The Four Towns Agreement (2017): what is documented about al-Shaibani’s role

The Four Towns Agreement of 2017 linked the fate of Kafraya and al-Fu’ah in rural Idlib with that of Madaya and al-Zabadani in rural Damascus. Asaad al-Shaibani, now Minister of Foreign Affairs, is named in connection with it.

What the testimony says

According to testimony

Mohammad al-Dabbash says al-Shaibani was the man known as “Zaid al-Attar” who took part in the file that ended with the agreement, and presents him as one of its signatories. 1

What independent sources confirm

Supported by independent sources

The Syrian Memory archive documents his participation in the 2017 negotiations and his use of the names “Hussam al-Shafi’i” and then “Zaid al-Attar” in closely spaced periods. Press reports describe him as one of the negotiators or signatories. 2 3

How we phrase it

Al-Shaibani, who at the time used noms de guerre including Hussam al-Shafi’i and Zaid al-Attar, took part in negotiating the Four Towns Agreement and, according to press sources, was among its signatories.

People in this article

Sources

  1. Testimony Mohammad al-Dabbash with Fadi Haddad, «مين رح يربح دمشق؟ السلفية ولا الدولة؟» (Who will win Damascus? Salafism or the state?). The transcript available to the project is partial. — YouTube, September 19, 2026
  2. Archive Profile: Asaad al-Shaibani (noms de guerre; Four Towns negotiations) — The Syrian Memory (الذاكرة السورية)
  3. Press Asaad al-Shaibani: from Idlib to the Foreign Ministry (Four Towns Agreement negotiations, 2017) — Al Jazeera Net, January 16, 2025