Qatari royals part of Syria evacuation deal: Report

‘Twenty-six members of a Qatari royal hunting party, captured in Iraq more than a year ago, were part of the swap agreement recently reached in Syria, a report says.
A person briefed about the rescue operation told Middle East Eye online news portal that the royals were a “fundamental part of the swap deal”, refuting claims that Qatar’s role was for “purely humanitarian reasons”.
The Syrian government and militant groups struck a deal in March that envisaged the transfer of 16,000 people from Shia-majority Foua and Kefraya in exchange for the evacuation of militants and their families from al-Zabadani and Madaya towns in the southwestern province of Rif Dimashq.
According to the unnamed source, a Qatari plane was in Iraq’s Baghdad airport on Sunday awaiting completion of the agreement, said the portal which is often cited by The Guardian, The New York Times and the BBC News.’
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