End nigh as 4,000 more flee Aleppo
Assad thanks Iran and Russia for aiding ‘liberation’
ALEPPO // The evacuation of rebel-held areas of Aleppo is in its last stages, with more than 4,000 opposition fighters having left since Wednesday night, the Red Cross said yesterday.
The departure of rebels and civilians from eastern Aleppo clears the way for the Syrian army to retake the former opposition stronghold in the biggest defeat for Syria’s rebellion in more than five years of civil war and a major victory for president Bashar Al Assad.
Mr Al Assad gave credit to his allies Moscow and Tehran.
“The liberation of Aleppo is not only a victory for Syria but also for those who really contribute to the fight against terrorism, notably Russia and Iran,” the president said yesterday.
The evacuation effort began last week but was halted after a day because of renewed fighting. In recent days it has been hampered by heavy snowfalls and freezing temperatures, leaving evacuees waiting in unheated buses for hours, but aid workers said it was continuing in earnest.
“Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, in one of the last stages of the evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans, and pickups from eastern Aleppo,” said Ingy Sedky, the spokeswoman in Syria for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
She said about 34,000 people had left rebel areas of Aleppo under the evacuation plan, which the red Cross is assisting.
The heavy snowfalls that blanketed Aleppo and the surrounding countryside on Wednesday had stopped, but weather conditions were still slowing down the evacuations.
“The bad weather, including heavy snow and wind, and the poor state of vehicles ... mean things are moving much more slowly than expected,” Ms Sedky said yesterday.
“The evacuation will continue for the entire day and night and most probably tomorrow. Thousands are still expected to be evacuated.”
It was unclear who exactly remained to be evacuated or how many of them were fighters and how many civilians.
The United Nations said it had deployed observers to monitor the final evacuations, under a Security Council resolution adopted on Monday.
Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency, said 31 staff had been assigned to monitor the crossing point at Ramussa, the government-held district of southern Aleppo through which evacuation convoys have been leaving.
“It’s been a very difficult night. The weather is really harsh, and people are leaving in hundreds of private vehicles at different levels of disrepair,” Mr Laerke said.
Rebel forces, who seized control of east Aleppo in 2012, agreed to withdraw from the bastion after a month-long army offensive that drove them from more than 90 per cent of their former territory. The agreement was brokered by Russia, which launched air strikes in support of the Assad government last year, and Turkey, which has supported some rebel groups.
As part of the Aleppo evacua- tion deal, it was agreed some residents would be allowed to leave Faua and Kefraya, two Shiite-majority villages in north-western Syria that are under siege by the rebels.
About 1,000 people have been able to leave the villages in recent days. Ms Sedky said the Red Cross would “continue to escort hundreds of civilians” from the villages to Aleppo “throughout the day”.
The evacuation of Aleppo’s rebel sector is a pivotal moment in a war that has killed more than 310,000 people and triggered a major humanitarian and refugee crisis. As well as a major strategic gain for Mr Al Assad, the rebel withdrawal has given fresh impetus to international efforts to end the conflict.
Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed this week to guarantee Syria peace talks and backed expanding a ceasefire, laying down their claim as the main power brokers in the war. Repeated attempts at peace have failed, but UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hoped to convene talks in Geneva in February.
Moscow’s military intervention in support of Mr Al Assad marked a major turning point in the war.
Defence minister Sergei Shoigu said yesterday that the Russian air force had killed 35,000 fight- ers in Syria since September last year.
Turkey launched its own campaign in Syria in August in support of pro-Ankara rebels, with the aim of pushing back ISIL and Kurdish militias from areas near its border.
Turkish air strikes yesterday killed at least 47 civilians in the ISIL-held Syrian town of Al Bab, which Turkish forces have been seeking to capture for weeks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The dead included 14 children and nine women, according to the Britain- based monitoring group, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria.
The raids came a day after 16 Turkish soldiers were killed in ISIL attacks around Al Bab – the country’s biggest loss of the campaign so far.
The civil war in Syria has killed more than 310,000 people and triggered a major humanitarian and refugee crisis