Buses roll out as evacuation of east Aleppo gets under way
Initial 1,000 leave city and are ferried to rebel-controlled areas in the countryside
BEIRUT // The evacuation of fighters and civilians from the last rebel-held neighbourhoods of eastern Aleppo finally began yesterday, with convoys carrying evacuees across government lines and into opposition territory in the countryside.
Fighters and civilians were set to leave the rebels’ shrunken eastern Aleppo enclave on Wednesday, but that deal dissolved as clashes resumed and the Syrian government launched air and artillery strikes.
As violence took hold and hope once again faded, Iran-backed pro-government factions issued a demand for the evacuation of two Shiite towns besieged by rebels in Idlib province.
Yesterday’s evacuation looked doubtful initially as ambulances attempting to leave eastern Aleppo in the morning came under fire from pro-government fighters, injuring three, according to the Syrian Civil Defence. The evacuation plan was put into action in the afternoon, with nearly 1,000 people leaving aboard 20 buses and a number of ambulances. After dropping off their passengers in rebel-held territory just west of Aleppo, the buses returned to the city to collect more people. A second convoy of 15 buses began leaving east Aleppo hours later, according to state television, as a Syrian official confirmed that 30 buses were sent to Kefraya and Foua, the two Shiite villages in Idlib, to ferry out sick and wounded residents. “The gunmen and their families are leaving in batches and will continue during the night until the end of the presence of gunmen in the city,” state television announced.
EAST ALEPPO // I never thought things would end up like they have today.
We’ve been living under siege for nearly three months and food is running out. My friend was smart enough to stockpile some lentils and rice before the siege, so we have enough to eat one meal a day – for now.
Sometimes I go to sleep early if I’m hungry. It’s unbelievable how it came to this point.
I don’t believe the rebels will be able to break the siege. They can’t do very much at this point. When the demonstrations against president Bashar Al Assad began in 2011, I was in university studying law.
By the time they reached my campus in western Aleppo, I joined them and started struggling in school as I skipped classes to protest.
In March 2012, one year after the rebellion began, I was protesting against the government when the police attacked, firing their automatic weapons at us.
I tripped while running and they caught me as I lay on the ground. They took me to jail along with other protesters, beating me on the way. Some were beaten so bad their arms or noses were broken. They called us terrorists and told us we would die in jail.
When we arrived, I was held in a small basement room with 50 other men. There wasn’t even space to sit.
They let me go after two days because the jail was overcrowded. I tried to keep a low profile as I continued with my studies and, after graduating, I started working at a medical facility in the rebel-held east to help the people there.
I worked hard to improve my English, listening to broadcasts on my phone for hours at a time and watching films whenever I could. I watched The Lord of the Rings 20 or 30 times, it helped me a lot. When my English was good enough to converse with native speakers, I started working to help foreign journalists tell stories about the war.
There have been a lot of bad days in the war.
Once, my street was hit by two barrel bombs. They landed about 100 metres from my house. I rushed to the street to help and ended up recovering bodies of children from the rubble. As we were carrying a boy, part of his skull slid off. Another’s head was crushed. We loaded them into the ambulance.
Six months ago, I was buying food at a shop in my neighbourhood when a barrel bomb landed 50m away. Again, I ran towards the scene.
As I ran, another barrel bomb hit the store that I was in, killing the 10 people inside. I survived, but suffered shrapnel wounds in my back and right leg.
It’s getting harder every day to work in this war zone. Many people don’t like to be in the spotlight or be interviewed because they don’t like journalists.
This hate has been growing in Middle Eastern society as the war crimes and massacres continue without the media’s coverage helping to change anything.
But this work has changed me a lot. My coverage of the war over the past year has opened my eyes to all the horrors of this catastrophic story. It will stick in my mind for ever.
Whenever I do interviews, my life could be threatened at any time. It doesn’t make me scared, it just makes me rethink things: Is it worth it to do this, to lose your life?
I can’t answer this question, but something drives me to do it anyway.
The terrible circumstances of life here must be told and so I do it without consideration of the risks.
As l long as I am alive, as best I can, I want to tell people the real stories from the ground.
Sometimes it seems pointless and useless as things are not changing and no one who can change it cares.
But then I remember that I am not doing this to make the politicians change their policies.
It’s for those who are interested, for those who want to have a clear view of the city’s situation and what’s happening to ordinary people caught in the crossfire of this terrible war.
‘ The terrible circumstances of life here must be told and so I do it without consideration of the risks Zouhir Al Shimale