Thousands return to government-seized areas in northwest Syria

DAMASCUS: Thousands have returned to their hometowns in northwest  Syria  after military advances by government loyalist against jihadists and allied rebels, state media said Sunday.
“Thousands of citizens return to their villages and towns of the northern Hama countryside and the southern Idlib countryside,” state news agency SANA said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, reported “around 3,000 people” going home from other areas under regime control.
Since August 31, a ceasefire announced by regime backer Russia has largely held in northwestern  Syria , though the Observatory has reported sporadic bombardment.
SANA said the returns came amid “government efforts to return the displaced to their towns and villages”.  The Idlib region of around three million people, many of them dispaced by fighting in other areas, is one of the last holdouts of opposition to forces backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.