Heartbreaking Tweets From Aleppo Residents

A halt in air strikes by Moscow and insurgent factions took effect early on Tuesday following negotiation with the Russians last night – however a rebel official said clashes continued.

Syrian pro-regime fighters gesture in the Fardos neighborhood as they drive past residents fleeing violence in the restive Bustan Al-Qasr neighborhood yesterday, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters. For most of the last four years, the city has been split in two-the government-controlled western half and the rebel-held east. The city was one of the last to join the uprising against Assad’s government in June 2012.

Sources inside Aleppo tell CNN a ceasefire and evacuation agreement has been reached in the beleaguered eastern part of the city.

In late November, CNN reported that close to 200,000 people remained in eastern Aleppo, but that tens of thousands were fleeing.

“People are contacting NPR saying the destruction is unimaginable, the streets are littered with carnage”, she tells Morning Edition. From the outset I was one of the first one to call for armed struggle, because I am fully aware of the regime’s criminal nature.

“The truce has already begun, the bombardments and combat have stopped and the combatants will leave tomorrow, we expect starting sometime after 5 a.m.”, the Fastaqim Union’s Zakaria Malahifyi said from outside Syria, citing reports from comrades in Aleppo.

“In order for this to happen, we appeal to the parties to put humanity ahead of military objectives”, said ICRC’s head of delegation in Syria, Marianne Gasser, who is now in Aleppo. “There are reports of mass atrocities”. The U.S. did reportedly call for worldwide observers to be allowed in Aleppo to oversee the evacuation of civilians.

They carried banners which read: “We are with Aleppo against Russia, Iran, and Assad”.

Zachary Malahifji, of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group, said Russian Federation, rebel-supporting Turkey, the United Nations and insurgent groups had all been involved in negotiations. It just needs guarantees of safe passage. “We will either die or be captured”, said Ibrahim Abu al-Laith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue service.

Weekend talks in Geneva failed. While stressing that the United Nations is not able to independently verify these reports, the U.N. chief said he conveyed his grave concern to the relevant parties.

Moscow is a key Assad ally and launched an air war in support of his forces a year ago, while Washington and other Western nations have backed the opposition.

Ms Bishop said it had been clear for a long time that the ousting of President Al-Assad could not be part of any peace deal.

Human Rights Watch has received worrying reports about possible reprisals against civilians in areas now held by government forces.

“The civilians, they can stay, they can go to safe places, they can take advantage of the humanitarian arrangements that are on the ground”.

“We’re hearing that hundreds of people have been detained. The Syrian government says that these people, usually men. are being checked to see if they are allied with any of the extremist rebel forces, including groups linked to al-Qaida”.

“Civilians have paid a brutal price during this conflict, and we are filled with the deepest foreboding for those who remain in this last hellish corner of opposition-held eastern Aleppo”, Colville said.

Then, residents under relentless bombardment in the few remaining blocks under rebel control in Aleppo began posting emotional goodbyes on social media and in widely circulated messages.

Another Twitter user – who goes by the user name “Mr_Alhamdo” and says he is an Aleppo resident, a “teacher, activist and reporter” in the city – posted a number of tweets bidding farewell to his followers, describing the scene as “doomsday.”.