Aleppo evacuations might restart after Syria, rebels reach agreement
BEIRUT — Rebel and government forces agreed Saturday to allow “humanitarian cases” to leave two besieged government-held Shiite villages in northwestern Syria, a step that would allow the resumption of civilian and rebel evacuations from eastern Aleppo that were suspended a day earlier, Hezbollah’s media arm and a monitoring group said.
The opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Obser- vatory for Human Rights said the evacuation of some 4,000 people, including wounded, from the villages of Foua and Kfarya was expected to start Saturday.
It later reported that 29 buses were heading toward the two villages to start the evacuation process, adding that insurgents in the area rejected allowing 4,000 people to leave and saying they will only allow 400 people to be evacuated.
The Syrian army said another 25 buses left later Saturday heading to the two villages.
Hezbollah fighters have joined the Syrian war fighting along with President Bashar Assad’s forces. Opposition activists blamed the Lebanese group for blocking the main road south of Aleppo and blocking evacuations from rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the city.
The Aleppo evacuation was suspended Friday after a report of shooting at a crossing point into the enclave by both sides of the conflict. Thousands were evacuated before the pro- cess was suspended.
In Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday called his counterparts in Turkey and Iran to discuss the Syria crisis.
The ministry’s read-out said all three discussed the Aleppo evacuation and humanitarian efforts and stressed “the importance of continuing to coordinate efforts of the international community to provide humanitarian aid to those in need.” They agreed to meet soon.