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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/17/aleppo-fall-syria-iran-winner-influence-analysis
Iran Is Changing Syria's Demographics
(Observer-UK) Martin Chulov - Within hours of Turkey and Russia announcing a deal to allow refugees to leave Aleppo, Iran had sabotaged it, demanding the lifting of a siege of two Shia villages north of Aleppo, Fua and Kefraya. Aleppo is a crossroads in Iran's project to build a land corridor to the Mediterranean coast. Iran also negotiated about the fate of the opposition-held town of Zabadani, west of Damascus. Iran proposed a swap of the town's Sunnis, who would be sent to Idlib province, for the residents of Fua and Kefraya, who would be relocated to Zabadani. "The Iranians want no Sunnis between Damascus and the Lebanese border," said a senior Lebanese official Friday. "There is a very clear plan to change the sectarian tapestry of the border." In the Damascus suburb of Darayya, where opposition communities surrendered in August and accepted being flown to Idlib, 300 Shia families from Iraq have moved in. Further to the west, near the Zainab shrine, Iran has bought substantial numbers of properties, and also sponsored the arrival of Shia families.