1st LD: 1,000 rebels, families evacuate eastern Aleppo

As many as 1,000 rebels and their families evacuated the rebels few remaining strongholds in the northern city of Aleppo overnight, a well-informed source told Xinhua on Monday.

20 busses carrying the rebels and their families evacuated through the Ramouseh crossing south of Aleppo city, after being delayed for hours, the source familiar with the evacuation process said on condition of anonymity.

The rebel evacuation from eastern Aleppo comes as part of a Turkish-Russian deal, which includes the rebels' acceptance to allow people they are besieging in the Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in the northwestern province of Idlib to evacuate in exchange for the rebel evacuation from Aleppo.

10 busses carrying people from the two towns arrived in Ramouseh on Monday morning, a military source told Xinhua, adding that the operation is ongoing until the evacuation of all the rebels from eastern Aleppo.

However, he said that the process, which have faced many snags since started last Thursday, may take time.

"Maybe they finish today, tomorrow, we are not sure," he added.

A day earlier, the rebels in Idlib burnt 20 busses that were supposed to enter the besieged towns, allowing only five to enter.

While the government accused the rebels of breaching the deal, for the second time, said it had sent more busses to continue with the evacuation as planned.

On Friday, the government declared it had suspended the evacuation of the rebels and their families, after the rebels in Idlib prevented the evacuation of people from Kafraya and Foa. It also accused the rebels of smuggling heavy weapons in the busses they were using to evacuate eastern Aleppo.

But on Saturday, news came in that the process will continue after the rebels made new pledges, and undeclared items were added to the deal.

It's worth mentioning that most media outlets were denied access to the Ramouseh crossing, where the exchange of evacuees is taking place.

Sources at the site said there are fears of some sort of escalation at the site, especially after the rebels fired sniper shots and mortar shells on the same area on Friday, when the deal was declared suspended.

The deal was supposed to see the evacuation of 15,000 people, including 4,000 rebels and with the given numbers, it's estimated that 9,000 rebels and civilians have so far been evacuated from eastern Aleppo since the hobbling evacuation started last Thursday.

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