The civilians were “besieged by the terrorist groups in the eastern neighborhoods” and crossed into the Salahaddin section of the city, where Syrian army units sent them to makeshift shelters, the news agency reported.
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Some rebel forces had also surrendered to government forces, the report said.
On Thursday, Assad offered amnesty to all the rebels who surrendered within 30 days and announced the opening of three safe exits for civilians to leave the rebel-held districts.
The move was received cautiously by the United Nations and the West who fear that it will permit Assad’s Army to force the rebels into submission.
The United Nations has raised misgivings about the plan and the Syrian opposition is deeply distrustful, believing it is a government ploy created to clear civilians out of Aleppo so that the definitive battle for control of the city, once Syria’s commercial centre, can begin.
AP has reported that rights groups and civilians trapped in opposition-held neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo have said that the Russian plan does not guarantee safe passage or give residents a choice of where they might flee to.
“They were welcomed by members of the army and taken by bus to temporary shelters”, it added.
Meanwhile, SANA said some rebels have surrendered themselves and their weapons on Saturday morning to the authorities.
State television broadcast footage on Saturday showing civilians, mostly women and children, walking under the watch of government troops and boarding buses.
By Friday only a few Aleppo residents had left eastern areas through one passage but others wishing to flee were prevented by rebels, said the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Eastern neighbourhoods have been under total siege for weeks now, with Russia-backed government forces encircling the city and seizing the only remaining supply route.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov denied allegations that Russia and Syria are preparing to storm Syria’s Aleppo after clearing civilians out of the city under the guise of a humanitarian operation.
If it is a ruse, Kerry warns that it would kill the joint US-Russia cooperation in Syria, one that is the ongoing subject of negotiation.
The U.N. says Aleppo is now possibly the largest besieged area in Syria, with an estimated 300,000 residents trapped inside.
Syrian activists say U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeting a village in northern Syria held by the Islamic State group killed 28 civilians, including seven children. The UN and its humanitarian partners, as you know, know what to do.
“The brutal message to our people is: ‘leave or starve'”.
Syrians walk amidst the rubble in search for survivors following a reported air strike by Syrian government forces in the Maysar neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on February 7, 2015.
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“On the other hand, if we’re able to work it out today and have a complete understanding of what is happening and then agreement on the way forward, it could actually open up some possibilities”, he added, saying he had spoken with Moscow twice in the past 24 hours to try to clarify Russia’s intentions.
