Related Evacuations may resume•

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 which were suspended a day earlier, Hezbollah’s media arm and a monitoring group said.

The opposition’s Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the evacuation of about 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.

It was not immediately clear whether the alleged evacuation limits set by the insurgents in the two villages would undermine evacuation efforts in Aleppo.

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.

Syrians walk along a destroyed street in the old city of Aleppo on Saturday as pro-government forces reopen roads that were barricaded to divide rebel and government-held areas. Youssef Karwashan, AFP/Getty Images