Population Transfer: Philip Issa and War-Weary Fighters

population transfer: OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP/Getty Images By Philip Issa The Associated Press Fri., April 14, 2017 BEIRUT Thousands of Syrians were bused out of their towns on Friday in the first stage of a widely criticized population transfer that reflects the relentless segregation of Syrian society along political and sectarian lines, according to Toronto Star. The co-ordinated evacuations delivered war-weary fighters and residents from two years of siege and hunger, but moved the country closer to a division of its national population by loyalty and sect. GEORGE OURFALIAN / AFP/Getty Images Syrians onboard a bus coming from government-held Fuaa and Kafraya arrive in rebel-held Rashidin, west of Aleppo city, as part of an evacuation deal, on April 14, 2017. As diplomacy in Moscow focused on the U.S. airstrikes targeting Syria, more than 2,350 people were bused out of the twin rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani near Damascus, and another 5,000 from the pro-government towns of Foua and Kfraya in the country's north. We left so that God willing the siege may ease on those who remain, said Ahmad Afandar, a 19-year-old evacuee from Madaya whose parents stayed behind. Read more Trump's Syria strike intensifies tensions with Russia, highlights questions of his foreign policy There was no heating, no food, nothing to sustain our lives. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.