This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/dec/15/aleppo-tense-as-evacuations-set-to-begin-live-updates
The article has changed 13 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 9 | Version 10 |
---|---|
Aleppo evacuations: first group of wounded leaving city's east – live | Aleppo evacuations: first group of wounded leaving city's east – live |
(35 minutes later) | |
2.22pm GMT | |
14:22 | |
Here’s a summary of the latest on the evacuation of eastern Aleppo. | |
2.03pm GMT | |
14:03 | |
A Syrian official has told Reuters that a second convoy of 15 buses could soon leave eastern Aleppo after the first convoy escorted 951 people. | |
“The initial information is that the operation will continue today. Around 15 new buses are being prepared to evacuate the second group from the areas under the militants’ control,” its source said. | |
Meanwhile, a Turkish official told the agency that 50,000 people are expected to evacuated in the next three days. | |
Updated | |
at 2.19pm GMT | |
1.51pm GMT | |
13:51 | |
Lord Michael Williams, former UN under secretary general and UN special coordinator for Lebanon, said events in Aleppo had left the authority of the UN “in tatters”. | |
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme he said: “The pictures of the last several days from Aleppo, personally I found extraordinarily disturbing. They were all too redolent of the Nazi evacuation of the Jews from the Warsaw ghetto in the 1940s or Bosnia Serb evacuations of Muslim enclaves such as Srebrenica in 1995/96. To see this happening 20 years later on the eve of Christmas is deeply shocking. And is an indictment of the international system.” | |
Williams, now a fellow at the Chatham House thinktank, said the crisis in Aleppo was also a “terrible indictment of Obama”: | |
He has done nothing. When grave crimes of humanity have occurred again. They [the US] alone could have made a military intervention. The ghosts of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have haunted the war in Syria, but something might have been done, not so much in terms of a dramatic grand peace plan ... but an attempt to momentarily stabilise the situation around Aleppo and provide for the evacuation of women and children and the injured.” | |
Lord Williams on @BBCWorldatOne:Events in #Aleppo today = “gross indictment of #Obama - he’s done nothing, absolutely nothing in #Syria." pic.twitter.com/bB4SSrw75b | |
Updated | |
at 2.21pm GMT | |
1.32pm GMT | 1.32pm GMT |
13:32 | 13:32 |
951 leave eastern Aleppo | 951 leave eastern Aleppo |
Almost a thousand people have left eastern Aleppo, according to a Syrian official. | Almost a thousand people have left eastern Aleppo, according to a Syrian official. |
The official told Reuters that 951 people left eastern Aleppo on Thursday in the first convoy to depart from the rebel enclave. The convoy included women, children and the wounded, the official said. | |
Syrian official: 951 people left eastern Aleppo in first convoy https://t.co/YmPoSv5z2o | |
Updated | |
at 2.21pm GMT | |
1.24pm GMT | 1.24pm GMT |
13:24 | 13:24 |
Kareem Shaheen | Kareem Shaheen |
A teacher in east Aleppo, who is waiting to be evacuated, said there were mixed feelings among the residents, writes Kareem Shaheem. | A teacher in east Aleppo, who is waiting to be evacuated, said there were mixed feelings among the residents, writes Kareem Shaheem. |
He said some were angry that they are being forced to leave and others happy that they the violence will stop. He said some locals were burning their belongings in their homes so they aren’t looted by pro-regime forces when they enter the besieged districts. | He said some were angry that they are being forced to leave and others happy that they the violence will stop. He said some locals were burning their belongings in their homes so they aren’t looted by pro-regime forces when they enter the besieged districts. |
Syrian officials said the first convoy to leave eastern Aleppo took out women, children and the wounded. | |
Updated | |
at 2.22pm GMT | |
1.21pm GMT | 1.21pm GMT |
13:21 | 13:21 |
The mayor of eastern Aleppo, Brita Hagi Hasan, says he fears 50,000 civilians in eastern Aleppo “are about to be victims of a general massacre”. | |
Speaking in Brussels at an EU summit he called for “a courageous position from the European Union, a position of sending of sending some forces to monitor the evacuation of civilians”. | |
“We never asked any country to go to war ... we only ask to save civilians and secure some corridors for their evacuation,” Hasan said. | “We never asked any country to go to war ... we only ask to save civilians and secure some corridors for their evacuation,” Hasan said. |
Speaking as civilians began to be escorted from the city, he said more than 800 wounded people in eastern Aleppo need evacuating urgently and over 5,000 others who are hurt should also leave. | |
Hasan was invited into the EU summit, and sat alongside the European council president Donald Tusk as he opened the meeting. | |
In private talks with Hasan, Tusk acknowledged that “the last thing your people in Aleppo need today is more words of sympathy”. | |
“The only thing you need today is real and effective assistance,” a visibly emotional Tusk said. | “The only thing you need today is real and effective assistance,” a visibly emotional Tusk said. |
Updated | |
at 2.24pm GMT | |
1.11pm GMT | 1.11pm GMT |
13:11 | 13:11 |
New footage purports to show how scared Aleppo’s evacuees are of being hit in airstrikes. They run for cover as a jet passes low overhead. | New footage purports to show how scared Aleppo’s evacuees are of being hit in airstrikes. They run for cover as a jet passes low overhead. |
MUST WATCH As #Aleppo journo @PrimoAhmad on live update feed, loud jet noise causes panic in crowd, but cameraman shows steady hand pic.twitter.com/tMN36BcV8Z | MUST WATCH As #Aleppo journo @PrimoAhmad on live update feed, loud jet noise causes panic in crowd, but cameraman shows steady hand pic.twitter.com/tMN36BcV8Z |
1.07pm GMT | 1.07pm GMT |
13:07 | 13:07 |
Reuters has photographs of dozens of people, mostly men, preparing to leave rebel-held eastern Aleppo. | Reuters has photographs of dozens of people, mostly men, preparing to leave rebel-held eastern Aleppo. |
1.01pm GMT | 1.01pm GMT |
13:01 | 13:01 |
Al Jazeera has footage from activist/citizen journalist Zouhir al-Shimale of the first ambulances leaving eastern Aleppo with wounded civilians. | Al Jazeera has footage from activist/citizen journalist Zouhir al-Shimale of the first ambulances leaving eastern Aleppo with wounded civilians. |
This is what the start of evacuations looked like in East Aleppo. @ZouhirAlShimale was there when ambulances were loading the injured. pic.twitter.com/z6mb07qGO4 | This is what the start of evacuations looked like in East Aleppo. @ZouhirAlShimale was there when ambulances were loading the injured. pic.twitter.com/z6mb07qGO4 |
12.55pm GMT | 12.55pm GMT |
12:55 | 12:55 |
The ICRC has confirmed that 13 ambulances and 20 buses carrying civilians and the wounded have left the besieged east Aleppo. Some are critically wounded, it said. | The ICRC has confirmed that 13 ambulances and 20 buses carrying civilians and the wounded have left the besieged east Aleppo. Some are critically wounded, it said. |
HAPPENING NOW: 20 buses & 13 ambulances crossing the frontline with civilians from east #Aleppo, some critically wounded. @SYRedCrescent | HAPPENING NOW: 20 buses & 13 ambulances crossing the frontline with civilians from east #Aleppo, some critically wounded. @SYRedCrescent |
Updated | Updated |
at 1.08pm GMT | at 1.08pm GMT |