Demanded leave his house in Al-Foua | displaced civilian brandishes his weapon at Turkestans, expelling them from the town

SOHR activists say that a dispute took place between displaced civilians and members of the Turkistan Islamic Party in the town of Al-Foua near the city of Idlib. 

According to Observatory sources, an armed group of Turkestans attacked a displaced man from al-Ghouta in rural Damascus, who lives in one of the houses of the Shiite community abandoned by its owners under the “four cities agreement”, with the aim of expelling him from the house and housing jihadist members in it. However, the civilian brandished his weapon at them and expelled them, after threatening to kill them if they tried to expel him from the house.

The man lives with his family in the house and managed earlier to face several attempts by the factions to take over the house.

In June, SOHR eyewitnesses said that a demonstration took place in the square of the village of Kfraya, north of Idlib, demanding that foreign fighters leave the village, and protesting the notices issued by the Uzbek faction against some families living in the village, demanding the families evacuate their houses.

Meanwhile, the Uzbek faction has brought in military reinforcement, deploying on the outskirts of the village to prevent any attack by the locals.

Tension still prevails in the village as residents stand together against Uzbek members.

The village of Kfarya is inhabited by displaced families from governorates of Homs, Damascus and countryside and other areas, who were transferred to the village after the four cities agreement in 2017.

The regime had been carrying out sectarian displacements from the towns of Al-Foua and Kefraya in the Idlib countryside, in which the Shiites are the majority, in exchange for the displacement of families and fighters of the towns of Zabadani and Madaya in the western Damascus countryside.

The agreement was brokered by Qatar between Iran, Shiite militias and a number of opposition and jihadist factions, most notably HTS, Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam.