UN to begin evacuations from Aleppo if truce holds

ALEPPO: The United Nations hopes - ations from Aleppo on Friday, if Syrian army’s Russian-backed assault on the city holds.

Despite a drop in violence after the truce took effect on Thursday there was little sign civilians were heeding calls to leave, and Russia accused rebels of preventing civilians from fleeing the east of the city.

Meanwhile NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg expressed concern that a Russian aircraft carrier battle group, on its way from the North Sea and currently off the coast of Britain, could join attacks on Aleppo.

British warships shadowed the Russian ships through the North Sea, the latest cat-and-mouse encounter in two years of Cold-War style tensions.

The unilateral ceasefire in Aleppo began at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) Thursday with the aim of evacuate the city’s oppositioncontrolled east.

Shortly after the pause began, erupted around one crossing point, with state news agency had targeted the area “in an attempt to hinder the humanitar

But by afternoon, the clashes had subsided and the east was calm, though the streets were empty.

Around Aleppo on Thursday, Syrian soldiers were calling through loudspeakers for to evacuate.

The Russian defense ministry streamed live video from several of the exit corridors, showing waiting ambulances and buses along empty roads.

An AFP photographer in government-held west Aleppo said eight injured people had crossed via the Bustan al-Qasr crossing despite

But AFP correspondents in the east visited four crossing points and saw no movement through them.

Yasser Youssef of the Nureddine al- Zinki rebel group said opposition fighters wanted - sian initiative.

“Who are they to decide to displace the Syrian people who re he asked.