1st LD: Syrian army secures evacuation of 1,500 civilians from rebel-held areas in Aleppo

The Syrian army forces have secured the evacuation of 1,500 civilians from rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city in northern Syria, state news agency SANA reported Sunday.

The civilians have been evacuated from rebel-held areas through routes previously identified by the Syrian army, which repeatedly called on the rebels in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to leave.

However, the repeated calls were met with deaf ears from the rebels' side, until the Syrian forces went on a wide-scale offensive over the past few days against major rebel strongholds in eastern Aleppo.

The Syrian forces fully recaptured the Jabal Badro neighborhood in eastern Aleppo Sunday, a day after retaking the Masaken Hanano area, which is the largest rebel-held district in eastern Aleppo, according to SANA.

Since the army started capturing areas in eastern Aleppo over the past 24 hours, civilians started fleeing toward government-controlled areas in western Aleppo.

The military operations in eastern Aleppo aim to set free the civilians "who have been taken hostage by the rebels," said a security source.

"As we have previously promised, it's only a matter of short time before all civilians in Aleppo will be set free from the terrorists," the source said.

It stressed that time is still available for reaching a settlement in eastern Aleppo to secure the evacuation of all those desirous to leave, which will save the city from the bloodshed.

On the opposition side, activists said that after capturing Hanano, the Syrian army is attempting to capture the Sakhour neighborhood, whose control would enable the Syrian army to divide the northern part of the rebel-held areas east of Aleppo from its southern one. Endit