Syrian activists said residents in eastern Aleppo are starting to board buses and ambulances, the first step in an evacuation that is part of the rebel enclave’s effective surrender.
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The evacuation of the last pocket of rebel territory in Aleppo began on Thursday under a deal brokered by Russian Federation and Turkey.
The recent escalation comes amid attempts by the Russia-backed Assad regime to reestablish control over parts of Aleppo captured four years ago by armed opposition groups. However, the evacuation deal collapsed within hours after reports emerged of pro-Damascus Shiite militias obstructing evacuation of people in the region, and a new one was put in place.
Two men receive treatment from an ambulance they are travelling in after it was sacked on by government forces as they tried to evacuate.
The once-flourishing economic centre with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverised during the war which has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and allowed for the rise of Islamic State. Since early in the war, Aleppo, once the country’s industrial center, has been split, with the government holding the west and rebels holding many neighborhoods in the east.
Elizabeth Hoff says World Health Organization staffers at the Ramouseh crossing point with the rebel enclave who were assisting in the operation were told “without explanation” to leave the area. Some 20 passenger buses, 10 ambulance vehicles and almost 100 cars of the militants were involved in the effort.
Ankara and a Syrian military source said the evacuation had been suspended but was not yet over. The TV quoted Hama provincial governor, Mohammed al-Hazouri, as saying that the medical teams were heading to Foua and Kfraya for those evacuations.
According to varying reports, between 3,000 to 8,000 civilians have been evacuated from Aleppo so far.
The rebels’ evacuation comes as a result of intense negotiations between local and global powers for allowing the rebels to leave from the few remaining areas under their control in the eastern part of Aleppo, toward the western countryside of the city, Xinhua news agency quoted the report as saying. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of ongoing negotiations.
A ceasefire brokered on Tuesday by Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkey was meant to end years of fighting in the city, giving the Syrian leader his biggest victory in more than five years of war.
People get on buses to be evacuated from al-Sukkari rebel-held sector of eastern Aleppo, Syria December 15, 2016.
The opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the evacuation of some 4000 people, including wounded, from the villages could start today.
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Initially, the evacuation from Aleppo was to have begun at dawn Wednesday, but quickly derailed, descending into terrifying violence.
