Stopped Daesh convoy in Syria will not be allowed to move: Coalition

Vehicles waiting to transport Daesh members are seen in the Qara area in Syria’s Qalamoun region on August 28, 2017 as part of a deal between Hezbollah and Daesh fighters where the jihadists would leave to eastern Syria. (AFP / Louai Beshara)

BEIRUT: Most of the Daesh evacuation convoy stuck in east Syria has crossed out of regime territory and is no longer the responsibility of the Syrian regime or its ally Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist group said on Saturday.
A US-led coalition fighting Daesh has been using warplanes to prevent the convoy from entering territory held by the terrorists in east Syria. Hezbollah and the Syrian Army had escorted it from west Syria as part of a truce deal, according to AFP.
“The Syrian state and Hezbollah have fulfilled their obligations to transfer buses out of the area of Syrian regime control without exposing them,” the statement said.
Hezbollah said in a statement that the US-led jets were still blocking the convoy of militants and their families, which was stuck in the desert, and were also stopping any aid from reaching it.
Six buses remain in regime-held territory under the protection and care of the Syrian state and Hezbollah, the statement said. There were originally 17 buses in the convoy.
Hezbollah said there were old people, casualties and pregnant women in the buses stranded outside Syrian regime control in the desert and called on the international community to step in to prevent them coming to harm, AFP reported.
A commander in the pro-Assad military alliance said earlier on Saturday that Hezbollah and the Syrian Army were seeking an alternative way for the convoy to cross into Daesh territory, having already tried two other routes.
“Work is under way to change the course of the convoy for a second time,” the commander said.
The US-led coalition has asked Russia to communicate to the Syrian regime that it will not allow the convoy to move further east toward the Iraqi border, according to a statement issued late on Friday.
“The coalition values human life and has offered suggestions on a course of action to save the women and children from any further suffering as a result of the Syrian regime’s agreement,” it said in a statement.