50,000 people remain trapped in freezing Aleppo
Russia claims a successful evacuation but the UN says families are stuck and at the mercy of the militias
THE evacuation of tens of thousands of remaining residents of rebel east Aleppo came to a halt yesterday after both sides accused the other of breaching terms of the deal, even as Russian President Vladimir Putin declared wider peace talks.
Iranian Shia militias allied to the Syrian government blocked the main route out and reportedly detained 800 people on buses as they tried to leave the opposition side of the city.
As a late condition of the truce, Shia militias had demanded the evacuation of wounded residents of two loyalist Shia villages, Kefraya and Fua in Idlib province, besieged by rebels.
But yesterday anti-government fighters appeared to prevent ambulances entering to remove the injured, and it was thought the militias in east Aleppo acted in retaliation.
Zouhir al-Shimale, one of the residents who tried to leave yesterday morning on a bus, said his group were handcuffed by the pro-government fighters and four members were shot.
“They took us after we reached [Assad] regime’s areas, handcuffed us, killed 4 & told us that it’s payback,” Mr Shimale, a journalist who has worked with The Telegraph, wrote on Twitter. “Thousands waiting to be evacuated, but the sectarian militants prevented us after they took all of our money and told us to go back. We were unarmed.” Their convoy had reportedly made it through a Russian checkpoint but were then “surprised” by a Hizbollah one near Ramusseh in south Aleppo.
Another east Aleppo resident, Hamid al-Halab, said Shia Lebanese Hizbollah fighters stripped and beat the men, while stealing from the women.
The Daily Telegraph could not inde- pendently confirm their claims. Russia meanwhile pronounced the evacuation complete and said that “all women and children” had left the ravaged city. Aid agencies on the ground quickly denied the claims, saying thousands of civilians were still waiting for buses out.
So far around 8,500 people have left the city on green government buses since Thursday afternoon, going to rebel-held territory in the west of Aleppo province.
However, the United Nations estimated some 50,000 remain trapped.
Pawel Krzysiek of the Red Cross in east Aleppo, told The Telegraph that thousands of civilians waited out in near-freezing conditions for hours yesterday for buses which never came.
“People are burning whatever they can to stay warm. It really is so cold. Not all of them have enough clothes and there is not much food or water for them,” he said.
The army began an operation to recapture all of Aleppo in mid-November, and had overrun more than 90 per cent of the former rebel bastion in the east of the city before a deal was struck.
The truce, brokered by Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkey, was intended to end years of fighting in the city, giving the Syrian leader his biggest victory after more than five years of war.
Building on the momentum of Aleppo, Mr Putin yesterday announced peace talks with Ankara aimed at securing a total ceasefire, in Astana, the Kazakh capital. The talks would run counter to the UN efforts in Geneva.
Yesterday, in his last press conference, President Barack Obama said Mr Assad, Tehran and Moscow shared the blame for the bloodshed in the country. “It should be clear that although you may achieve tactical victories, over the long term the Assad regime cannot slaughter its way to victory.”
Meanwhile, in south-east Damascus, a seven-year-old girl carrying a belt of explosives caused a blast that rocked a police station and wounded three police officers, said the Al-Watan daily.