Syria to evacuate Aleppo in surrender deal

Pro-government forces reportedly killed 82 civilians “on the spot” as they closed in on the last rebel enclave in Syria’s Aleppo on Tuesday, the United Nations human rights office said, while world leaders expressed outrage and aid agencies issued dramatic appeals on behalf of trapped residents.

“The world is watching Aleppo – and we are documenting the violations being committed against its people, with the firm conviction that one day those who are responsible will be held to account”, United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said. “The Syrian government has re-established control over eastern Aleppo”.

As regime coalition forces close in on what little remains of the once large swaths of rebel-held territory in eastern Aleppo, activists, militants and reporters sent out tweets and Facebook messages that they said would be their last. The disintegration of rebel defenses and the retaking of the Sheikh Saeed district on Monday pushed the remaining fighters and civilians into a tiny pocket of heavily bombarded territory.

Ambassador Vitaly Churkin says an agreement has been struck for rebels to evacuate the north-western city.

FSA leader Ahmed Berri said, via telephone, that a deal had been struck to allow for the evacuation.

Aleppo Media Center (AMC) posted to its Facebook page Tuesday that a ceasefire had announced in Aleppo “in preparation for the evacuation of civilians from besieged areas through safe passages”.

A deal has been brokered for Syrian rebel fighters to get out of parts of eastern Aleppo which they still hold. “I hope you can remember us”, he said.

“Obviously they want to be in a safe place, but some of them don’t believe being in a government area is a safe place for them – they’re afraid of being put in one of Syria’s notorious jails, or having to do compulsory military service, essentially, switching sides”, she says. Taking the easter part of Aleppo is a major coup for President Bashar al-Assad along with his supporters in Iran and Russian Federation.

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a statement after a meeting with his national security team at the Treasury Department in Washington, U.S., June 14, 2016.

Turkish officials also met with their Iranian counterparts twice to discuss the situation Aleppo, in addition to various meetings with the U.S., European Union and Gulf countries.

After evidence came in April 2013 that Assad’s forces had used sarin at a village outside Aleppo, former president Bill Clinton and that old warmonger Senator John McCain were demanding Obama bomb Assad’s chemical munitions dumps.

While one can argue about the wisdom of Obama’s decision to issue red lines and then not enforce them, there were clearly enough armed players in the Syrian civil war to make Western intervention not only redundant but also a very risky proposition. “People are running running but don’t know where to go”.

Rebels, activists and aid workers in eastern Aleppo said they had been informed that civilians and fighters could all leave under the deal to rebel-held areas, satisfying a central demand that both civilians and fighters have an option to avoid going to government-held areas, where they fear arrest and other reprisals.

The government assault has been backed by heavy artillery fire and air strikes, with at least 463 civilians, including 62 children, killed in east Aleppo since mid-November, according to the Observatory.

Syrians who were displaced with their families from eastern Aleppo gather at the collective shelter.

Screening by Syrian government forces of people leaving the city must itself be monitored, Mr Colville urged.

More than 310,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011, and over half the population has been displaced, with millions becoming refugees.