Reuters - An evacuation of rebel-held areas of Aleppo was back on track on Thursday
despite clashes overnight and was expected to begin "within hours",
Syrian opposition
groups and a military media unit run by the government's ally
Hezbollah said.
A Syrian official source told Reuters early on Thursday that the
operation to organize the departure of fighters from east Aleppo had begun and
the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had been asked to assist
with the evacuation.
Overnight contacts between the parties succeeded in reviving a ceasefire
that had originally come into effect late on Tuesday before breaking down,
Hezbollah's media unit said.
An official from the Jabha Shamiya rebel group said the new truce came
into effect at 2.30am (0030GMT) on Thursday and a Reuters reporter in Aleppo
said no fighting had been heard in the city since the early hours of the
morning.
Such an exodus would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major
victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. An initial deal stalled on
Wednesday, the planned evacuation failed to materialize and renewed fighting
raged in the city.
Iran, one of Assad's main backers, had imposed new conditions, saying it
wanted the simultaneous evacuation of wounded from two villages besieged by
rebels, according to rebel and U.N. sources.
Rebel officials said late on Wednesday that they had agreed to an
evacuation of the wounded from those Shi'ite villages in Idlib province, and
that the Aleppo deal would go ahead as planned.
"Within the coming hours its implementation will begin," said
Abdul Salam Abdul Razak, a military spokesman for the Nour al-Din al Zinki rebel
group.
BIG COMPLICATIONS
It was not immediately clear how a deal had been reached, and late on
Wednesday it was thrown into doubt by the military media unit run by Hezbollah,
an armed Shi'ite group backed by Iran and an ally of the Damascus government.
"The negotiations are seeing big complications, in light of tension
and operations on the front lines," it said. Fighting had raged in the
night on the southern outskirts of Aleppo, where rebel groups outside the city
clashed with pro-government forces.
The original ceasefire was brokered by Russia, Assad's most powerful
ally, and opposition backer Turkey on Tuesday. But the planned evacuation of
rebel-held areas did not happen and instead shelling and gunfire erupted in the
city on Wednesday, with Turkey accusing government forces of breaking the
truce.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, said
the bombardment by Syrian government forces and their allies "most likely
constitutes war crimes".
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed
in a phone call on Wednesday to make a joint effort to start the process,
Turkish presidential sources said.
Shortly before the new deal was announced, clashes raged in Aleppo.
Government forces made a new advance in Sukkari - one of a handful of
districts still held by rebels - and brought half of the neighborhood under
their control, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a
monitoring group. Rebels said they attacked government forces with suicide car
bombs.
The Russian defense ministry said - before the report of the government
forces' advance in Sukkari - that the rebels controlled an enclave of only 2.5
square km (1 square mile).
RAPID ADVANCES
The evacuation plan was the culmination of two weeks of rapid advances by
the Syrian army and its allies that drove insurgents back into an ever-smaller
pocket of the city under intense air strikes and artillery fire.
By taking control of Aleppo, Assad has proved the power of his military
coalition, aided by Russia's air force and an array of Shi'ite militias from
across the region.
Rebels have been supported by the United States, Turkey and Gulf
monarchies, but that support has fallen far short of the direct military
backing given to Assad by Russia and Iran.
Russia's decision to deploy its air force to Syria 18 months ago turned
the war in Assad's favor after rebel advances across western Syria. In addition
to Aleppo, he has won back insurgent strongholds near Damascus this year.
The government and its allies have focused the bulk of their firepower on
fighting rebels in western Syria rather than Islamic State, which this week
managed to take back the ancient city of Palmyra, once again illustrating the
challenge Assad faces reestablishing control over all Syria.
Reuters
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