Desperate ‘thousands’ await evacuation from Aleppo
ALEPPO: Trapped Syrian civilians and fighters waited desperately Saturday for evacuations to resume from an opposition-held enclave in Aleppo as the Red Cross pleaded for a deal to “save thousands of lives.”
An opposition representative told AFP agreement had been reached to allow more people to leave the city.
But there was no confirmation from President Bashar Assad’s regime or its staunch allies Russia and Iran, which are under mounting international pressure to end what US President Barack Obama denounced as the “horror” in Aleppo.
Families spent the night in freezing temperatures in bombed out apartment blocks in Al-Amiriyah district, the departure point for evacuations before they were halted on Friday, an AFP correspondent reported.
Abu Omar said that after waiting outside in the cold for nine hours the previous day, he had returned on Saturday only to be told the buses were not coming.
“There’s no more food or drinking water, and the situation is getting worse by the day,” he said, adding that his four children were sick because of the cold.
Dozens of trucks with humanitarian aid crossed the Turkish border Saturday into Syria, piling supplies in a buffer zone.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) appealed for safe passage for the thousands of people including women, children, sick and injured who waited through the night “in constant fear and anxiety.”
“People have suffered a lot. Please come to an agreement and help save thousands of lives,” said ICRC Syria delegation head Marianne Gasser. “We cannot abandon these people.”
The regime blamed the opposition for the suspension of the evacuation which began on Thursday, saying they had tried to smuggle out heavier weapons and hostages.
The opposition accused the government of halting the operation to try to secure the evacuation of residents from Fuaa and Kafraya, two villages under opposition siege in northwestern Syria.
In return, the opposition fighters want the evacuation of the towns of Madaya and Zabadani in Damascus province which are besieged by the regime.
Al-Farook Abu Bakr, of the hard-line group Ahrar Al-Sham, said a deal had been reached for evacuations to resume.
“There will be evacuations from Fuaa and Kafraya, as well as Madaya and Zabadani, and all the residents of Aleppo and the fighters will leave,” he said. But the regime did not announce any deal.