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| Syrian rebels claim Aleppo evacuation deal is back on | Syrian rebels claim Aleppo evacuation deal is back on |
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| Syrian rebels have said a deal to evacuate rebel-held parts of Aleppo is back on track, hours after it collapsed. | Syrian rebels have said a deal to evacuate rebel-held parts of Aleppo is back on track, hours after it collapsed. |
| Rebel officials said the cease-fire would go into effect later on Wednesday night and implementation of the deal would begin early on Thursday, according to reports. | Rebel officials said the cease-fire would go into effect later on Wednesday night and implementation of the deal would begin early on Thursday, according to reports. |
| An official in the pro-Damascus military alliance confirmed to Reuters the truce deal was on, and said around 15,000 people would be evacuated from the majority Shia villages, Foua and Kefraya, in return for the evacuation from Aleppo of “militants and their families and whoever wants to leave among civilians”. | |
| He said those leaving Aleppo would head for Idlib province to the west of the city. | He said those leaving Aleppo would head for Idlib province to the west of the city. |
| A rebel official however denied that 15,000 people would leave the two villages and said only the wounded would be evacuated. | |
| The evacuation from a sliver of territory the rebels still hold in eastern Aleppo was supposed to begin on Wednesday morning, but shelling resumed in the early hours. | The evacuation from a sliver of territory the rebels still hold in eastern Aleppo was supposed to begin on Wednesday morning, but shelling resumed in the early hours. |
| Rebels accused the Syrian government and its allies of derailing the deal by placing new conditions, while Russian Defence Ministry said it was a rebel infringement of the fragile ceasefire. | Rebels accused the Syrian government and its allies of derailing the deal by placing new conditions, while Russian Defence Ministry said it was a rebel infringement of the fragile ceasefire. |
| Ahmed Karali, a spokesman for the Ahrar Sham rebel group, told AP the deal was then salvaged, adding that the first group of wounded people and civilians would begin leaving early on Thursday morning, which two other rebel spokesmen reportedly confirmed. | Ahmed Karali, a spokesman for the Ahrar Sham rebel group, told AP the deal was then salvaged, adding that the first group of wounded people and civilians would begin leaving early on Thursday morning, which two other rebel spokesmen reportedly confirmed. |
| The Turkey and Russia-brokered ceasefire deal to bring peace to what a UN representative described as a “meltdown of humanity” was supposed to include the evacuation of up to 5,000 people to the neighbouring, rebel-held Idlib province. | The Turkey and Russia-brokered ceasefire deal to bring peace to what a UN representative described as a “meltdown of humanity” was supposed to include the evacuation of up to 5,000 people to the neighbouring, rebel-held Idlib province. |
| But Hizbollah's al-Manar TV broadcast footage showed the Syrian government's green buses leaving the agreed checkpoint without any passengers, indicating the evacuations would be futher delayed and that the short-lived promise of a ceasefire was over. | But Hizbollah's al-Manar TV broadcast footage showed the Syrian government's green buses leaving the agreed checkpoint without any passengers, indicating the evacuations would be futher delayed and that the short-lived promise of a ceasefire was over. |
| Many in east Aleppo didn't sleep on Tuesday night as they awaited the start of the arranged passage out of the city to Idlib. Monitors reported that rebel fighters had prevented civilians who wanted to leave from doing so. | Many in east Aleppo didn't sleep on Tuesday night as they awaited the start of the arranged passage out of the city to Idlib. Monitors reported that rebel fighters had prevented civilians who wanted to leave from doing so. |
| Activists sent audio recordings of planes overhead and explosions as the news broke on Wednesday that the ceasefire had completely failed. “We want to leave... we don't want more massacres, let us leave, what is happening,” one said in a Whatsapp message. | Activists sent audio recordings of planes overhead and explosions as the news broke on Wednesday that the ceasefire had completely failed. “We want to leave... we don't want more massacres, let us leave, what is happening,” one said in a Whatsapp message. |
| Russia's Interfax news agency said that pro-government forces would continue the operation to quash resistance in the last opposition neighbourhoods. Russia also said that 366 fighters and 6,000 civlians had fled overnight from fighting in what appeared to be a separate development to the planned evacuations. | Russia's Interfax news agency said that pro-government forces would continue the operation to quash resistance in the last opposition neighbourhoods. Russia also said that 366 fighters and 6,000 civlians had fled overnight from fighting in what appeared to be a separate development to the planned evacuations. |
| While Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was working with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to resurrect the deal, any ceasefire deal would only save “terrorists”, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said. | |
| Between 50,000 and 100,000 people are thought to still be trapped in the last slivers of rebel territory in east Aleppo after the Syrian army and Iran-backed militas captured all but a few remaining neighbourhoods in the divided city on Monday. | |
| Reports of the executions of 82 civilians, including women and children, by pro-government militias, have alarmed rights groups and the international community,as has the destruction and death caused by incessant bombing and a collapse of medical aid. | |
| The ceasefire agreement - which did not include the Syrian government or UN in consultations - reportedly ran into trouble after Shia militias added fresh demands to the deal, such as the evacuation of injured pro-government forces from the north of the country. | |
| Rebels in Idlib retaliated for the collapse of the deal by targeting two government-controlled villages in the area with rockets. | |
| Fighting in Aleppo may not continue for much longer, however. President Assad's forces have all but retaken the city, which after four years of fierce fighting has become the epicentre of Syria's bloody civil war. | |
| Rebel supply lines were cut off in July, and an intense Russian-backed bombing campaign since September has killed hundreds, decimated medical infrastructure, and brought the last urban rebel stronghold in Syria to its knees. |