1st LD: Busses enter Syria's Aleppo to resume evacuation

A total of 75 busses entered eastern Aleppo city in northern Syria on Sunday to evacuate the remaining rebels, a day after the suspended evacuation was resumed, a military source said.

The busses entered the neighborhoods of Zibdiyeh, Salahuddien, Mashhad and Ansari in southeastern Aleppo to evacuate the remaining rebels and their families through the Ramouseh road toward rebel-held areas in the southwestern countryside of Aleppo, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, busses entered the Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib on Saturday evening to evacuate as many as 1,200 Shiites besieged by the rebels.

The Shiite people are set to leave Idlib simultaneously with the rebel evacuation from Aleppo on Sunday, as part of a Russian-Turkish deal.

The evacuation of rebels and their families from the last remaining strongholds in eastern Aleppo started on Thursday, and over 8,000 have already left toward the western countryside of Aleppo.

The evacuation came after the Syrian army succeeded to retake 99 percent of the rebel-held areas in Aleppo, following a major offensive.

As a result, over 80,000 people fled eastern Aleppo toward government-controlled areas in western Aleppo, while the rebels and their families were included in a deal between Russia and Turkey, as Moscow negotiated on behalf of the Syrian government, while Ankara negotiated for the rebels.

However, the evacuation process was suspended Friday, due to many reasons.

One of the main reasons is that the rebels in Idlib were stopped short of allowing civilians in both pro-government Shiite towns to leave in tandem with the evacuation of rebels from eastern Aleppo.

On Saturday, a military source said the resumption of the rebel evacuation from their last few strongholds in the eastern part Aleppo is expected to resume on soon, as the rebels agreed to abide by previous pledges to allow civilians out of the Shiite towns, among other conditions.

The deal was supposed to see the evacuation of 15,000 people, including 4,000 rebels.

With the last evacuation of the rebels from eastern Aleppo, the Syrian army will be on control of the entire city, a victory seen as a writing new chapter of history, as President Bashar al-Assad recently said. Endit