Rebels in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo continued to fight on Saturday in the few remaining sections of the city under their control as Syrian government forces aided by Russian air cover continued a campaign to drive them from their strongholds. 93 percent of the country’s most populous city has now returned to government control, according to a Reuters report citing the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Civilians in Aleppo evacuated the rebel-held neighborhoods of the city as best they could as Syrian government forces shelled those areas with artillery fire, ABC reported. Heavy fighting continued in the southern portions of the city, where the remaining rebel forces have consolidated as government forces backed by Russia have made significant advances in retaking it. Civilian casualties have occurred on both sides in the battle for Aleppo, including nine citizens killed by rebel mortar fire against government-held areas in recent days.

The civilians moving away from the neighborhoods that have yet to be taken are reportedly moving en masse into the government-controlled neighborhoods of Aleppo, where facilities have been set up to attempt to deal with the influx of citizens fleeing from the fighting. The exact number of those who have evacuated the war-torn areas is unclear, but could be as high as 80,000. Major General Igor Konashenkov, official spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Defense, has stated that Russian military groups on the ground in Aleppo are working to provide displaced civilians with much-needed medical care and supplies until more permanent arrangements can be made.

Included in the efforts to retake Aleppo may have been a chemical weapons attack by the government forces of embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Bombs equipped with toxic chlorine gas were reportedly deployed into one of the rebel-held areas of Aleppo early on Saturday morning. These reports have yet to be verified due to the heavy fighting in the areas that were allegedly affected.

As the battle for Aleppo nears its end, another assault in Syria has forced the government to divert military units from the siege of the rebel-held neighborhoods. According to a Reuters report, a counterattack by Daesh (better known as the Islamic State) on the Syrian city of Palmyra had necessitated the removal of troops from Aleppo. The city, a major political and commercial center of Syria since the Roman period of its history, had previously been taken back from Daesh after a long campaign that involved both Syrian government troops and heavy Russian air support.

Between the allocation of troops to defend against the new threat to Palmyra and the heavy fighting in the areas of Aleppo still held by the rebels, advances on the part of troops loyal to Assad have slowed considerably. Rebel leaders continue to state that they are not prepared to give up or retreat from their current positions, although it is widely agreed upon that the fight for Aleppo is entering its final stages. Russian and Syrian statements have attributed the slowdown of ground operations in Aleppo to a conscious decision on the part of the coalition forces there to allow civilians an opportunity to evacuate into the government-held portions of the city.

Meanwhile, efforts are being made to secure a peaceful return to government control. U.S. and Russian diplomats are set to meet to discuss the path forward for the rebel groups in Aleppo, many of which have received backing from the United States throughout the six-year Syrian Civil War. According to a report compiled by the BBC, the United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to request a ceasefire in Aleppo, though no such ceasefire has so far been planned or implemented. In a statement on Saturday, outgoing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry echoed the wishes of the General Assembly, calling on the Russian and Syrian coalition to negotiate for a ceasefire in Aleppo, according to CNN.</s>The Syrian Army has regained control over all of Aleppo and has returnef “security and stability to the city,” the army's general command said. The Red Cross has confirmed that a complex operation to evacuate those who "wished" to leave has been completed.

The city has been liberated from "terrorism and terrorists" the statement said, as quoted by Syria's state SANA news agency.

Aleppo will now mark a turning point in the war against terrorism, the Syrian Army statement said. “It strikes a smashing blow to the forces that backed a terrorism plot against Syria,” the statement added.

"All civilians who wished to be evacuated have been, as well as [the] wounded and fighters," International Committee of the Red Cross spokeswoman Krista Armstrong said, according to Reuters.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Thursday that the liberation of Aleppo from terrorism is a victory not just for Syria but for all those who are effectively contributing to the fight against terrorism, including Iran and Russia.

“It is also a setback for all the countries that are hostile towards the Syrian people and that have used terrorism as a means [by which] to realize their interests,” he said.

A SANA reporter wrote previously on Thursday that the last stage of evacuating terrorists and their families from eastern Aleppo was underway.

A video provided by RT’s Lizzie Phelan, reporting from Aleppo, shows the army celebrating the victory. Constant firing can be heard in the background.

The battle for Aleppo lasted for almost half a year after the Syrian Army first encircled the militants and rebels ensconced in the city, in late July. In September, government forces conducted a major offensive and re-captured a number of neighborhoods previously controlled by the armed groups. The second major offensive was conducted in late November and early December. Eventually, government forces managed to take control of more than 90 percent of Aleppo's territory.

During the operation to liberate Aleppo, more than 78,000 civilians managed to flee eastern districts into government-controlled areas with help from the Russian Center for Reconciliation. In total, bomb disposal specialists have detected and destroyed about 1,340 explosive objects in eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. Russian crews have also helped to restore over 20 buildings – schools, hospitals, mosques, power substations, water pumping stations, and bakeries among them, according to the center.

In early December, the Syrian government and armed groups reached a deal, which was brokered by Russia and Turkey. The deal envisaged the evacuation of the remaining rebels and militants and their family members through a humanitarian corridor set up by government forces.

Twenty passenger busses and 10 ambulances have been provided to evacuate those who wished to leave, while around 100 cars were used by the militants themselves. On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that a total of 20,000 people had been evacuated from Aleppo.</s>BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government took full control of Aleppo on Thursday for the first time in four years after the last opposition fighters and civilians were bused out of war-ravaged eastern districts, sealing the end of the rebellion’s most important stronghold.

The evacuations ended a brutal chapter in Syria’s nearly six-year civil war, allowing President Bashar Assad to regain full authority over the country’s largest city and former commercial powerhouse. It marked his most significant victory since an uprising against his family’s four-decade rule began in 2011.

The announcement was made via an army statement broadcast on Syrian state TV shortly after the last four buses carrying fighters left through the Ramousseh crossing.

“Thanks to the blood of our heroic martyrs, the heroic deeds and sacrifices of our armed forces and the allied forces, and the steadfastness of our people, the General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces announces the return of security and stability to Aleppo,” an army general said in the statement.

Western Aleppo erupted in heavy celebratory gunfire, with Syrian TV showing uniformed soldiers and civilians shouting “Aleppo, Aleppo!” and “God, Syria and Bashar only!”

“No more east and west, Aleppo is back for all Aleppans,” said the Syrian TV correspondent, surrounded by people waving Syrian flags.

For Syria’s opposition, it was a crushing defeat that signaled the start of a new struggle to forge a way forward.

Ahmad al-Khatib, an opposition media activist who left the city before the siege, said the fall of Aleppo was a date “we’ll never forget and we will never forgive.”

“Let the world bear witness that Bashar Assad has killed and displaced and destroyed Aleppo, and he celebrates in his victory over the blood and offspring of Aleppo … with the agreement of the Arab and Western nations,” he posted on Twitter.

The ancient city had been divided into rebel and government parts since 2012, when rebels from the countryside swept in and took hold of eastern districts. That set the stage for more than four years of brutal fighting and government bombardment that laid waste to those neighborhoods.

The army statement said the victory in Aleppo is a “strategic transformation and a turning point in the war on terrorism and a deadly blow to the terrorist project and its supporters.”

It was a further incentive to keep fighting to “eradicate terrorism and restore security and stability to every span of the homeland,” it added.

Earlier in the day, Assad said his forces’ achievements in Aleppo are a “major step on the road to wiping out terrorism” and ending the civil war.

The rebel evacuations were set in motion after a months-long siege and Russian-backed military campaign. Years of resistance were stamped out in a relentless campaign over the past month that saw hospitals bombed, bodies left unburied and civilians killed by shells as they fled for safety.

The campaign targeted all remaining hospitals, knocking them out of service. Medical and food supplies ran out and fighters were left demoralized and abandoned by their regional allies.

Under a deal brokered by Russia and Turkey, tens of thousands of residents and fighters began evacuating to opposition-controlled areas in the surrounding countryside, a process that took a week.

More than 35,000 fighters and civilians were bused out, according to the United Nations. The ICRC said in a statement that more than 4,000 additional fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans and trucks since Wednesday.

The departure of the last convoy Thursday was a humiliating defeat for the opposition.

The rebels’ hold in Aleppo was a major point of pride, and at times the city seemed to be an invulnerable part of what was once a growing opposition-held patch of territory in the north.

The divided northern city has paid dearly as a central theater of the war. In the past month alone, hundreds of civilians were killed by intense bombardment of rebel-held zones.

A photo of 5-year-old Omran Daqneesh — confused and covered in dust and blood as he sat in an ambulance after being rescued in August from the rubble of a building — became a haunting image in the unforgiving struggle.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>The war-torn city of Aleppo has been recaptured, the Syrian army said Thursday, marking its biggest victory in the country's long civil war.

"The restoration of security and stability to Aleppo is a victory which forms a strategic juncture and important turning point in the fight against terrorism, from one point, and a blow to the terrorist project and its supporters from another," the army's general command said in a statement posted by the Syrian Arab News Agency.

President Bashar al-Assad's government has full control of Aleppo, the country's most populous city before the war, for the first time since 2012.

The rebel forces agreed to withdraw from the city after a monthlong army offensive drove them from 90 percent of their original territory.

The announcement came hours after the last convoy of residents was reported leaving the city, the last of a weeklong evacuation effort.

But the United States remained wary of the victory, citing reports of increased violence in other parts of the country as well as the future of those evacuated from Aleppo.

"Certainly, seeing these reports that they are claiming to have all of Aleppo, I am in no position to dispute that," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. "But they bear responsibility for what they did to Aleppo and Aleppo's citizens."

The United Nations also echoed concerns over increased violence elsewhere in Syria. Speaking Thursday in Geneva, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura warned that Idlib, where many evacuees have gone, "could be in theory the next Aleppo."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said that by Thursday, about 34,000 people had left eastern Aleppo, which rebels held for four years in their effort to push Assad from office.

Hundreds more people have left Foua and Kefraya, the villages in Idlib that the government insisted be included in an evacuation agreement.

"Thanks to the blood of our martyrs and the sacrifices of our valiant armed forces as well as allied forces ... the general command of the armed forces announces the return of security to Aleppo after its release from terrorism and terrorists, and the departure of those who stayed there," the army said in a statement, according to the French news agency AFP.</s>“What is happening today is the writing of a history written by every Syrian citizen.” 



Over 3000 people have been evacuated in buses and ambulances from the rebel-held war-torn city of Aleppo in Syria following a ceasefire deal that will end almost six years of fighting in the city and marks a major victory for Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.

The evacuation is a result of the desperate pleas from Aleppo residents and reports of the abuse and atrocities they have been suffering, as well as days of intense bombing of houses and apartment buildings, killing so many that it was impossible to determine the death toll.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who is overseeing the evacuation, says the full evacuation of civilians and rebels is likely to take several days. The head of the ICRC painted a devastating picture of the situation before the evacuation.

“A crane was used to remove some of the debris from the street so the ambulances and buses could get through. There were burnt cars. Smoke rising from nearby buildings. There was a lot of fear and uncertainty,” she explained.

“When we arrived, the scene was heart-breaking. People are faced with impossible choices. You see their eyes filled with sadness.”

While people are happy to be leaving the city and be safe, there is a lot of sadness around leaving their homes behind. An journalist reported seeing the words “one day we will return” written on the dusty window of one of the evacuation buses.

United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said around 50,000 people remain in Aleppo, and 10,000 of those will be evacuated to the nearby province of Idlib, and the rest will be moved to other government-held districts.

In a video message, President Assad said history was being made.

“What is happening today is the writing of a history written by every Syrian citizen. The writing did not start today, it started six years ago when the crisis and war started against Syria.”

The ceasefire comes after a week of assaults from the Syrian government and its ally, Russia. Journalist Zouhir Al Shimale, who is in east Aleppo, said hundreds of families gathered at the departure point for the buses.

“Civilians are given the choice to stay or leave. If they stay, they’ll be under regime control. Most of the people want to go because they are afraid of potential massacres by the regime,” Shimale said.

“In recent days, people are desperate to get to somewhere where we have the supplies – food, medicine, fuel – like we used to have in the days before the siege. Even if they are in refugee camps, people still want to leave the besieged area.”

The ceasefire does not signify an end to the war in Syria, and despite losing ground in Aleppo, the rebels still control large areas of Syria, and so does the Islamic State.

Comment: What is your opinion on the Syrian war?</s>Syrian troops cemented their hold on Aleppo on Friday after retaking full control of the city, as residents anxious to return to their homes moved through its ruined streets.

Syria's army announced on Thursday it had recaptured the former rebel stronghold of east Aleppo following a landmark evacuation deal that saw thousands of opposition fighters and residents bussed out.

It was the biggest victory for President Bashar al-Assad's forces in nearly six years of civil war and a major win for his foreign backers, with key ally Russia hailing the recapture as "very important" step.

Braving the cold, war-weary residents crossed districts that had become infamous front lines, eager to return to neighbourhoods they had not seen in years.

An AFP correspondent saw civilians wrapped in coats trekking through the cold, some rolling their belongings on wheelbarrows.

"I came to check on my house, which I haven't seen in five years," resident Khaled al-Masri said. "I really hope my home wasn't badly damaged."

The evacuation operation ended more than four years of ferocious fighting inside Aleppo, which had been divided between government forces in the west and rebels in the east.

Opposition forces remain in control of areas west of Aleppo and on Friday at least one civilian was killed in the first wave of rebel rocket fire on the city since it fell under government control, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Eight people were also wounded in the fire on the Al-Hamdaniyeh district, the Britain-based monitor said, while state news agency SANA reported three killed.

The evacuation agreement was brokered by rebel backer Turkey and regime supporter Russia, which said it would strive to end fighting across Syria.

"The liberation of Aleppo from radical elements is a very important part of the normalisation in Syria, and I hope, for the region overall," President Vladimir Putin said.

"Everything needs to be done for fighting to stop on all Syrian territory," Putin said. "In any case, we will strive toward this."

The Kremlin also announced that Putin had signed an order to expand Russia's naval facility in the Syrian city of Tartus.

On Friday morning, government fighters moved into Ansari and al-Mashhad, two neighbourhoods they had not entered since mid-2012.

They searched for improvised explosive devices and mines, clearing buildings in anticipation of civilians returning, the Observatory said.

In Bustan al-Qasr, a heavily damaged neighbourhood near Aleppo's famed old city, small bulldozers removed rubble from the streets.

As the army moved through Al-Myassar district, Umm Abdo, 42, said she had found her former home but it had been destroyed.

"There's nothing left... but houses can be rebuilt," she said.

Syria's war transformed Aleppo from the country's industrial hub to a worldwide symbol of bloodshed and devastation.

The army's statement on Thursday announced "the return of security to Aleppo after its release from terrorism and terrorists, and the departure of those who stayed there".

Thousands of people in west Aleppo erupted in celebration at the declaration, chanting slogans in support of Assad's regime amid blaring car horns.

It came after state television said the last convoy of four buses carrying rebels and civilians had left east Aleppo and arrived in the government-controlled Ramussa district south of the city.

The evacuation deal, overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent, put an end to a month-long offensive waged on Aleppo's east by pro-government forces.

The ICRC said the operation had seen 35,000 people bussed out of the last rebel-held pocket of territory in the city.

Another 1,200 people were also evacuated from Fuaa and Kafraya, two Shiite-majority towns in northwest Syria that had been besieged by rebels, as part of the agreement.

The evacuation was a pivotal moment in a war that has triggered a major humanitarian and refugee crisis.

Nearly six years in, the conflict has killed more than 310,000 people and displaced half of Syria's pre-war population.

As well as a major strategic gain for Assad, the army's win in Aleppo has put the spotlight on the role of powerbrokers Russia, Iran and Turkey, which agreed this week to guarantee new peace talks and backed expanding a ceasefire.

Repeated attempts at peace for Syria have failed, but UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes to convene fresh talks in Geneva in February.</s>As President Bashar al-Assad's army closed in on the last rebel enclave in Aleppo on Tuesday, Russia, Iran and Turkey said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal. A rebel fighter stands with his weapon near evacuees from the Shi'ite Muslim villages of al-Foua and Kefraya as they ride bueses in insurgent-held al-Rashideen, Syria December 20, 2016.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Channelnewsasia.com.</s>ALEPPO - The army said Thursday it has retaken full control of Syria's devastated second city Aleppo, scoring its biggest victory against opposition forces since the civil war erupted in 2011.

The announcement came after a landmark evacuation deal that put an end to a ferocious month-long offensive waged on east Aleppo by government forces and allied militia.

Turkish air strikes killed at least 47 civilians including 14 children Thursday in the IS-held town of Al-Bab, which Turkish forces have been seeking to capture for weeks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. The raids came a day after 14 Turkish soldiers were killed by militants around Al-Bab, in the country's biggest loss of the campaign so far.

Earlier, the Red Cross said more than 4,000 fighters had left rebel-held areas of the city in the final stages of an evacuation.

The loss of east Aleppo is the biggest blow to Syria's rebel movement in the nearly six-year conflict, which has killed more than 310,000 people.

It puts the government in control of the country's five main cities: Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Damascus, and Latakia.

President Bashar al-Assad's victory in Aleppo is a boon for his allies in Moscow and Tehran and a defeat for the opposition's backers, including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Western states.

Because of the intensity of these global rivalries - particularly between Russia and the United States - the international community struggled for years to respond to the bloodshed in Syria.

"The liberation of Aleppo is not only a victory for Syria but also for those who really contribute to the fight against terrorism, notably Russia and Iran," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying before the army announcement on Thursday.

The evacuation effort had been hampered by heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures, leaving evacuees waiting in unheated buses for hours.

"Overnight between Wednesday and Thursday, in one of the last stages of the evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans, and pick-ups from eastern Aleppo," said Ingy Sedky, the spokeswoman in Syria for the International Committee of the Red Cross.

She said about 34,000 people had left rebel areas of Aleppo under the evacuation plan.

The United Nations said it had deployed observers to monitor the final evacuations, under a Security Council resolution adopted on Monday.

Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency, said 31 staff had been assigned for monitoring at the crossing point at Ramussa, the government-held district of southern Aleppo through which evacuation convoys have been leaving.

"It's been a very difficult night. The weather is really harsh, and people are leaving in hundreds of private vehicles at different levels of disrepair," he told AFP.

Heavy snowfall from Wednesday, which blanketed Aleppo and the surrounding countryside, had slowed down the evacuations.

"The bad weather, including heavy snow and wind, and the poor state of vehicles... mean things are moving much more slowly than expected," Sedky said.

Rebel forces, who seized control of east Aleppo in 2012, agreed to withdraw from the bastion after a month-long army offensive that drove them from more than 90 percent of their former territory.

The deal was brokered by Russia, which launched air strikes in support of Assad's regime last year, and Turkey, which has supported some rebel groups.

As part of the Aleppo evacuation deal, it was agreed some residents would be allowed to leave Fuaa and Kafraya, two Shiite-majority villages in northwestern Syria that are under siege by the Sunni Muslim rebels.

About 1,000 people have been able to leave the villages in recent days.

The evacuation of Aleppo's rebel sector is a pivotal moment in a war that has triggered a major humanitarian and refugee crisis.

As well as a major strategic gain for Assad, the rebel withdrawal from Aleppo has given fresh impetus to international efforts to end the conflict.

Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed this week to guarantee Syria peace talks and backed expanding a ceasefire, laying down their claim as the main powerbrokers in the war.

Repeated attempts at peace have failed, but UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he hopes to convene fresh talks in Geneva in February.

Formerly the beating heart of Syria's commercial and cultural industries, Aleppo has been split since July 2012 between rebels in the east and the government in the west.

East Aleppo became a powerful symbol for Syria's opposition, which set up its own administration to run schools, electricity, and water there.

Opposition fighters lobbed rockets into government-held territory, and regime forces battered the east with air strikes and artillery.

Moscow's military intervention in support of Assad marked a major turning point in the war.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Thursday the Russian air force has killed 35,000 fighters in Syria since it began in September last year.

Turkey launched its own campaign in Syria in late August in support of pro-Ankara rebels, with the aim of ousting Islamic State group militants as well as Kurdish militia from areas near its border.</s>(BEIRUT) — A statement by the Syrian armed forces says the northern city of Aleppo has returned to government control, ending a four-year rebel hold over parts of the city.

The statement broadcast on Syrian TV said the army has re-established “security” in the northern city after the last rebels evacuated from their final toe-hold in the eastern parts of the city.

The Syrian government’s recapture of Aleppo is a major turning point in the Syrian civil war with potentially powerful political repercussions.

It represents a momentous victory for President Bashar Assad and a crushing defeat for Syria’s opposition which will struggle to forge a way forward.

The ancient city has been divided into rebel and government parts since 2012.</s>BEIRUT, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Syrian army said it had retaken Aleppo completely and brought "security and safety" back to the city, as the last group of rebel fighters were evacuated on Thursday.

The evacuation of the rebels, who had been holed up in a small, battered enclave in Aleppo, puts the city entirely under the control of the army and its allies after years of fighting, state television said.

The final phase of the evacuation ended when a convoy carrying nearly 150 people, including fighters and members of their families, departed towards rebel-held areas outside the city, it said.

Broadcasting live, state media showed footage of a convoy crossing from the Ramousah highway junction in south Aleppo to al-Rashideen in the countryside just southwest of the city.

In parallel, two buses carrying people from the pro-government villages of al-Foua and Kefraya, besieged by rebels in Idlib, arrived in government-held Aleppo, state TV said.

Government forces had insisted the two villages must be included in the deal to bring people out of Aleppo.

Under a deal brokered by Turkey and Russia, convoys of buses and cars have shuttled thousands of civilians and fighters out of Aleppo's last rebel-held pocket towards opposition areas outside the city since late last week.

The Syrian army announced in a statement on Thursday "the return of safety and security to the city of Aleppo".

"This victory constitutes an important turning point," it said.

In the western part of the city, held throughout the war by the government, there was celebratory gunfire, fireworks, and street parties on Thursday night, witnesses told Reuters.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government is backed by Russian air power and Shi'ite militias, including Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and Iraq's Harakat al-Nujaba. The mostly Sunni rebels include groups supported by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.

For four years, the city was split between a rebel-held east and government-held west. During the summer, the army and allied forces besieged the rebel sector before using intense bombardment and ground assaults to retake it in recent months. (Reporting by Ellen Francis in Beirut, Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Editing by Catherine Evans)
The Syrian Army says it is now in full control of the city of Aleppo following the evacuation of the last group of rebels to the Idlib Governorate.