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Humanitarian aid and evacuation are Syria's priorities: Slovak official

Xinhua, December 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Humanitarian aid and evacuation of people are the main priorities in Syria at the moment, State Secretary for the Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry Ivan Korcok said here on Saturday.

When it comes to real capabilities and determination to enter the process with something more than a call for humanitarian help -- that's a matter of the common foreign and security policy and the European Union's global position, said Korcok.

Slovakia now assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Over 8,000 rebels and their families have been evacuated from their last strongholds in Syria's northern city of Aleppo since the announcement of truce on Thursday.

Nearly 15,000 people, including 4,000 rebels, were set to evacuate eastern Aleppo as part of a Russian-Turkish deal to end the presence of rebels in the city.

With the evacuation, the Syrian army will take over the whole Aleppo city, as it has already controlled 99 percent of the rebel-held areas in the eastern part of the city.

Once Syria's commercial hub, Aleppo has been divided roughly in two since 2012, with western parts under government control and eastern districts held by rebels. Enditem