Aleppo evacuation under way after truce deal

Aleppo: An operation to evacuate thousands of civilians and fighters from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo began yesterday, part of a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
A convoy of ambulances and buses with nearly 1,000 people aboard drove out of the devastated rebel-held area of Aleppo, which was besieged and bombarded for months by Syrian government forces, a reporter on the scene said.
Syrian state television reported later that a second convoy of 15 buses had also left.
Women cried out in celebration as the buses passed through a government-held area, and some waved the Syrian flag. Assad said in a video statement the taking of Aleppo was a historic moment.
An elderly woman, who had gathered with others in a government area to watch the convoy removing the rebels, raised her hands to the sky, saying: “God save us from this crisis, and from the (militants). They brought us only destruction.”
Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in the rebel zone, said most people were happy to be leaving safely. But he said: “Some of them are angry they are leaving their city. I saw some of them crying. This is almost my feeling in a way.” Earlier, ambulances trying to evacuate people came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who injured three people, a rescue service spokesman said.
“Thousands of people are in need of evacuation, but the first and most urgent thing is wounded, sick and children, including orphans,” said Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian adviser for Syria.
Behind those fleeing was a wasteland of flattened buildings, concrete rubble and bullet-pocked walls, where tens of thousands had lived until recent days under intense bombardment even after medical and rescue services had collapsed.
The once-flourishing economic centre with its renowned ancient sites has been pulverised during the war which has killed more than 300,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis and  allowed for the rise of Islamic State.
Turkey is considering establishing a camp in Syria for civilians being evacuated from Aleppo and the number of people brought out of the city could reach 100,000, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said.
In Aleppo’s rebel-held area, columns of black smoke could be seen as residents hoping to depart burned personal belongings they do not want to leave for government forces to loot.
“It’s difficult to leave your belongings knowing that your enemy is going to use them. Thugs usually will take them ...  They will take everything as a prize for kicking us out,” Zarqa, the teacher, said.
A senior Russian general, Viktor Poznikhir, said the Syrian army had almost finished its operations in Aleppo.
However, the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining their rural stronghold of Idlib province to the southwest of Aleppo, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing Palmyra this week.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said close to 1,000 civilians and 26 wounded, including several children, were evacuated, a total it expects to double by day’s end. The ICRC said there was “very light screening” by Syrian authorities without identity checks and registrations.
Rebels and their families would be taken towards Idlib, a city in northwestern Syria which is outside government control, the Russian defence ministry said.
Idlib province, mostly controlled by hardline Islamist groups, is not a popular destination for fighters and civilians from east Aleppo, where nationalist rebel groups predominated.
A senior European diplomat said last week that the fighters had a choice between surviving for a few weeks in Idlib or dying in Aleppo. “For the Russians it’s simple. Place them all in Idlib and then they have all their rotten eggs in one basket.”
Idlib is already a target for Syrian and Russian air strikes but it is unclear if the government will push for a ground assault or simply seek to contain rebels there for now.