World condemns attack on evacuees

and Qatar was designed to secure the evacuation of people from the pro-government Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foah in Idlib province toward government areas in Aleppo.

In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebelheld towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province.

The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shiites leaving Kafaraya and Foah, and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya.

The Shiites have reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels have reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo.

Both convoys were set to leave for their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held up the convoy of the Shiites, adding new demands to the original deal.

But after the bombing, the rebels succumbed to the pressure of their regional backers and allowed the buses to proceed to the government-controlled Aleppo city, thus marking the implementation of the first part of the deal.

Still, around 3,000 people are in the Shiite towns waiting their turn to be evacuated. Once they are out, both towns will be completely emptied of their populations, and the rebels will take over, after besieging the towns for years.

The UN said in February that around 4.7 million people live in hard-to-reach locations across the war-torn country, including more than 640,000 in besieged locations.