Cairo – A total of 25,000 people have been evacuated so far from the rebel enclave of eastern Aleppo, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday.
More evacuations are expected in the course of the day, Ingy Sedky told dpa. ICRC and Syrian Red Crescent workers have accompanied the evacuees.
A source close to the Syrian military said it would likely announce that all of Aleppo was under its control later on Tuesday.
Buses evacuating rebels stand by in Aleppo, Syria, on December 18, 2016. Sunday’s planned evacuation of rebels from their remaining strongholds in the northern city of Aleppo faced some snags, with the government accusing the rebels of breaching a deal for the second time, a military source told Xinhua. (Credit Image: © Yang Zhen/Xinhua via ZUMA Wire)
A final convoy of 62 buses was expected to leave the enclave in parallel with a second group of evacuees leaving two government-held villages that are besieged by rebels, the source, who declined to be quoted by name, said.
The army would then move in to secure the estimated 2 square kilometres of Aleppo still held by rebels after government forces swept through the enclave in recent weeks, he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, disputed the ICRC figures on the number of evacuees, putting them at a total of 16,200.
It estimated some 2,000 to 3,000 people, including rebel fighters, remained inside eastern Aleppo on Tuesday.
An official with an aid group helping receive the evacuees in rebel-held areas outside Aleppo said that their main concern was finding shelter, heating and washing facilities given the large numbers and below-freezing night-time temperatures.
Peoplw were hungry but there were no cases of severe malnutrition, despite eastern Aleppo having been besieged by government forces for most of the last five months, Mohamed Katoub of the Syrian American Medical Association said.
-dpa
