Evacuation from eastern Aleppo in Syria 'now complete'

By Halit Suleyman and Ayse Aktas

IDLIB, Syria

The evacuation of civilians and opposition fighters from former opposition strongholds in Syria’s eastern Aleppo is now complete, Anadolu Agency correspondents in the area witnessed late Thursday.

According to the correspondents, up to 45,000 people have reached safe areas controlled by the opposition since Dec. 15.

The correspondents added regime forces and pro-regime foreign terrorist groups had now completely taken control of Aleppo following the evacuation.

Nearly 3,500 people were evacuated in a convoy consisting of 10 buses and 420 private vehicles on Thursday.

The evacuations from opposition-besieged towns of Foua and Kefraya where mostly Shia civilians live have been simultaneously completed with the evacuation of east Aleppo.

Under a cease-fire agreement secured last week by Turkey and Russia, civilians trapped in eastern Aleppo have been allowed to go to Syria's opposition-held city of Idlib.

The evacuation process, however, was temporarily suspended on Friday after pro-regime foreign terrorist groups attacked a civilian convoy on its way out of the city, leaving a number of evacuees dead.

It resumed Monday under last week's deal allowing thousands of civilians and fighters to be evacuated out of the war-torn city as regime forces closed in.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, and Iran on Syria are set to meet in Moscow to discuss the latest developments in Syria, which has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011.