Syrian media outlets saidin recent days that a large prisoner exchange operation is expected to take place with Jaish al-Islam in eastern Damascus suburbs before Eid al-Fitr.
According to the reports, the exchange is expected to include 4,000 prisoners from each side.
Regime media outlets also said that a reconciliation will soon be reached regarding Douma city after a committee from the Ministry of Reconciliation, which entered Douma city, met with Jaish al-Islam representatives and public figures from the city. The media outlets refrained from giving any details about the conditions of the reconciliation or the expected fate of the opposition fighters present in the city.
In a telephone conversation with Ammar Johmani, a director in the Ministry of Reconciliation pointed out that the meeting that took place in Douma city last Friday was not the first, and it was preceded by several meetings between the two parties exchanging requests for study.
The official described the meetings as good, and said they paved the way for a possible reconciliation accord between the Syrian regime and Jaish al-Islam regarding the city.
The official pointed out that there are two governmental committees one focused on the issue of prisoner exchange and the second working to reach a reconciliation agreement. He added that the two parties are still communicating and negotiations are ongoing.
Bashar al-Assad mentioned that major reconciliations negotiations are underway in Syria in an interview with an Indian media network. It is likely that he is referring to what is being planned in Douma. Meanwhile regime media outlets, especially the media networks of the Syrian coast, praised the news and announced it as a new victory for the Syrian Arab Army and the “wise command.”
Speaking to Ammar Johmani, Hamza Bayrkadar, a spokesman for the Jaish al-Islam headquarters in the Eastern Ghouta, denied the reports about the reconciliation in their entirety and described the reports as “baseless and unfounded.”
Regarding the negotiations to exchange prisoners and detainees, Bayrkadar said, “Previously we opened the lines of negotiation to ensure the release of prisoners and detainees from the regime’s prisons, but al-Assad’s criminals and intelligence branches rejected negotiating these files and negotiating at all. Recently, they have focused on the negotiating to release the Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters held prisoners, disregarding his [al-Assad’s] community and his officers’ families’ files without any concern or desire to negotiate to obtain their release.”
Several areas in the countryside of Damascus have been subject to reconciliation agreements with the regime in the past two years though the conditions of the reconciliation differed between areas. The most recent neighborhoods to accept a reconciliation are al-Qaboun, Barza and Tishreen
