Syria frees 672 prisoners on eve of holiday

DAMASCUS, Syria -- The Syrian government on Saturday released hundreds of detainees, including some who backed the insurgency against President Bashar Assad, on the eve of a major Muslim holiday.

Hours after the releases, a car bomb exploded in a rebel-held northern town near the border with Turkey, killing and wounding dozens of people, according to the opposition Civil Defense in Idlib and the Britain-based opposition monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The explosion at a market in Dana killed at least 10 people, including children, and wounded 30, according to the Observatory. An earlier explosion in the town killed two people and wounded others.

Justice Minister Hisham al-Shaar told reporters that the 672 people released on Saturday included 91 women. He said 588 were freed in the capital, Damascus, Assad's seat of power.

Al-Shaar added that the releases were an attempt to "sustain national reconciliations efforts and the homeland's unity."

The releases came on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, the feast that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Syrian authorities usually release detainees on major holidays.

Tens of thousands of people have been detained since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. The conflict has killed about 400,000 people and displaced half the country's population.

In northern Syria, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces released about 200 Islamic State members in Raqqa province, according to the Observatory.

The Observatory said all those released in the town of Tabqa and the city of Raqqa and its suburbs had no blood on their hands and had served as preachers or employees in the extremist group's civilian institutions.

Also on Saturday, the Israeli air force struck three Syrian army targets in the Golan Heights after errant fire from the Syrian side landed in Israeli-controlled territory.

Israel's military spokesman said 10 projectiles fired from Syria landed in the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights. Israel's government said the fire was a result of fighting in Syria and not intentionally aimed at Israeli soldiers or civilians.

In response, an Israeli aircraft hit two Syrian army tanks and a heavy-machine-gun position on the Syrian side of the buffer zone that separates the two countries, the spokesman said.

Syrian media reported that at least two people were killed as a result of the Israeli strikes on the outskirts of the Syrian farming town of Quneitra, which is visible from the Israeli side and has been a scene of frequent clashes in the six-year conflict between anti-government forces and the Syrian army.

Information for this article was contributed by staff members of The Associated Press; and by William Booth of The Washington Post.

A Section on 06/25/2017

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