Ceasefire in 71 days | Nearly 225,000 civilians return to their areas in Idlib and western rural Aleppo

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has monitored a decline in the return of displaced people to their areas in Idlib and western countryside of Aleppo over the past few days.

The recent upsurge in rocket attacks by regime forces on the towns and villages of southern Idlib countryside, particularly Jabal al-Zawiya, in addition to the recent military operation of the jihadist groups in Sahl Al-Ghab, have prevented civilians from returning to their areas, for fear of the breakdown of the ceasefire which came into effect on March 5, and the return of military operations to the area.

According to Syrian Observatory statistics, the number of displaced persons who have returned to their cities, towns and villages, has reached 225,000 people, in 71 days since the ceasefire came into effect on March 5.

Russian and regime military operations had forced civilians to flee from their homes and areas. Some of displaced people who have returned are shelterless and have slept in the open near the border with Iskenderun region and another part in primitive camps in northern Idlib and western Aleppo, including those who were in the areas controlled by Turkish forces and proxy factions, north and north-west of Aleppo.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of displaced persons are still in the region, living in catastrophic humanitarian conditions, and many of them have no place to return after Syrian regime forces recaptured some 300 cities, towns and villages in the “Putin-Erdogan” area during recent military operations.