Aleppo evacuations resume

Convoys of evacuees travelled from the opposition-held area of Aleppo and from two besieged Shia villages today after a days-long stand-off.

Dozens of buses carrying thousands of people from Aleppo’s tiny rebel zone reached opposition-held areas of countryside to the west of the city, according to a United Nations official and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group.

At the same time, 10 buses left the Shia Muslim villages of Al-Foua and Kefraya, north of Idlib, for government lines in Aleppo, the sources said.

The evacuation of civilians, including wounded people, from the two villages which have been besieged by opposition for years, was a condition for the Syrian army and its allies to allow thousands of fighters and civilians trapped in Aleppo to depart.

“First limited evacuations, finally, tonight from east Aleppo and Foua and Kefraya. Many thousands more are waiting to be evacuated soon,” Jan Egeland, who chairs the United Nations aid task force in Syria, tweeted last night.

Syrian state TV and pro-Damascus stations showed the first four buses arriving in Aleppo from the villages, accompanied by pick-up trucks and with people sitting on their roofs.

Later today, the UN Security Council will vote in New York on a resolution to allow UN staff to monitor the evacuations. The draft resolution was the result of a compromise between Russia and France, and the United States said it was expected to pass unanimously.

Yesterday, some of the buses sent to Al-Foua and Kefraya to carry evacuees out were attacked and torched by armed men, who shouted “God is greatest” and brandished their weapons in front of the burning vehicles, according to a video posted online.

That incident threatened to derail the evacuations, the result of intense negotiations between Russia – the main supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – and Turkey, which backs some large rebel groups.