Update 19.12.2016 : Syria: a thousand people evacuated from Aleppo (L'Express.fr)
VIDEO – Several buses have started to leave the eastern part of the Syrian city. The operation is supervised by the Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Evacuations did indeed resume this Sunday in East Aleppo. Several buses with insurgents and their families on board have started to leave the area, Syrian public television reports. Earlier, an Agence France Presse correspondent had seen thousands of people huddled together to try to get on the buses, which had arrived in the dozens in East Aleppo. These residents had been stranded since Friday in a rebel pocket of Syria's second city, almost entirely conquered by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The departures, planned from Ramoussah, southwest of Aleppo, were supervised by the Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The Syrian regime had suspended evictions Friday at midday, on the intervention of Iran and pro-Iranian militias, which demanded an easing of the blockade imposed by the anti-Assad rebels at the level of two Syrian Shiite villages in the province of Idlib: Al Foua et Kefraya, reported Le Monde this Saturday. In other words, the militias wanted these two Shiite villages to be evacuated before this is the case in Aleppo.
An agreement reached, buses burned
Since then, an agreement has been reached between the Syrian regime and the insurgents, according to Syrian national television. According to a document communicated to Reuters by insurgents, the "contract" provides for the departure of 2500 inhabitants ofAl Foua and Kefraya in exchange for the evacuation of groups of people from eastern Aleppo. The fighters, on the other hand, will not be able to leave the Syrian town until the civilians of the two villages have arrived safe and sound in the government areas. In a second step, the operation will be repeated with two other cities: 1500 other inhabitants ofAl Foua and Kefraya will be able to leave, in exchange for the evacuation of 1500 people from Madaïa and Zabadani, besieged by Syrian troops.
But this agreement does not seem to have been completely respected. In the middle of the afternoon, several journalists and media reported that buses which were to evacuate al Foua and Kefraya were attacked and burned by armed men. However, this incident should not call into question the long-awaited evacuation of the city of Aleppo, a military source told AFP.
On the outskirts of Foua and Kafraya, the AFP correspondent saw around twenty armed men attacking buses heading towards these localities with a view to evacuation. They took down the drivers and strafed the vehicles, setting fire to the fuel tanks of at least five buses. The incident occurred after five buses from the convoy entered the two localities. Confusion reigned over the identity of the attackers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) citing differences between the jihadist group Fateh al-Sham (ex-branch of Al-Qaeda in Syria) and the influential rebel group Ahrar al-Sham on this evacuation.
Dates to survive
While 8500 people have been evacuated, there are still around 40.000 civilians in the small area still held by the insurgents in Aleppo and between 1500 and 5000 fighters with their families, according to the UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. Launched on Thursday, the evacuations were expected to last several days and, once completed, allow the regime to proclaim the full recovery of the city, thus recording its most important victory in the bloody war that has lasted since 2011.
In the Al-Amiriyah district, still partly held by the insurgents and from where the journey of the evacuees begins, thousands of people, including children, spent the nights of Saturday and Sunday in the ruins of buildings by temperatures around -6 degrees. Deprived of drinking water and food, the inhabitants subsist by eating dates.
500 wounded or sick evacuated since Thursday
This afternoon, the UN Security Council must decide on a draft resolution presented by France. It provides for the deployment of observers in the Syrian city to supervise evacuations and guarantee the protection of civilians. The Council will meet at 17 p.m. (French time) to vote on the text, despite the opposition of Russia, an ally of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
After years of bombardment and a siege lasting more than four months, a particularly destructive offensive launched in mid-November allowed the Syrian army and allied militias to retake more than 90% of the neighborhoods that the rebels had controlled in Aleppo since 2012 The regime's incessant shelling has left hundreds dead and more than 100.000 residents to flee. At least 500 wounded or sick have already left Aleppo since Thursday, according to Ahmad al-Dbis, head of a unit of doctors and volunteers coordinating the evacuation.
But on Friday a convoy of more than 800 evacuees was forced to turn back by pro-regime Shiite militiamen, the rebels claiming the group had come under fire. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which oversees the evacuations, has also indicated that it is examining “information suggesting shootings”.
source: The Figaro.fr with AFP and Reuters
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