(Zaman Al Wasl)- A rebel commander, in
vocal message, told Zaman al-Wasl that rebels have reached a ceasefire
agreement with the Syrian regime army to evacuate the war-torn eastern Aleppo neighborhoods early on Wednesday, heading next-door province of
Idlib with their families and civilians.
Meanwhile, the regime army said it could declare full control over eastern Aleppo "at any moment" as it advanced against rebels holed up just a handful of neighborhoods, predicting those districts would fall Tuesday or Wednesday.
"The army continues to advance towards ... Sukkari, what remains of Seif al-Dawla, part of al-Amiriya and Tel al-Zarazir," a military spokesman told Reuters during a tour of recaptured parts of Aleppo.
"When the army regains control of these areas, its operation in the eastern areas of the city ... will have finished," he said.
The spokesman added that rebels were continuing to reject withdrawing from the city.
The U.N. human rights office says it has received reports of pro-regime forces killing at least 82 civilians as they entered eastern Aleppo.
Spokesman Rupert Colville of the U.N. human rights office says the reports recount pro-government forces entering homes and killing some civilians "on the spot" in the former rebel enclave.
Colville spoke to reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
He says 11 women and 13 children were among those reportedly killed in four neighborhoods of the increasingly-shrinking rebel enclave in the city of Aleppo.
Colville says the reports came in late the previous evening and that he doesn't know exactly when the killings took place. (With Reuters, AP)
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stands ready to
act as a neutral intermediary in an evacuation from eastern Aleppo
being negotiated by various parties, a spokeswoman told Reuters Tuesday.
ICRC
spokeswoman Krista Armstrong said in Geneva: "At the moment, the
different parties are still discussing the details of this agreement and
how it will be implemented. We hope it will materialize and - most
importantly - that it will take into consideration the interests of the
civilians.
"If the basic humanitarian
principles are met, and if the parties are all in favor, we stand ready
to act as a neutral humanitarian intermediary and to assist civilians
who are in need. We are therefore preparing contingency plans, so we can
be able to act fast, if needed," she said.
Civilians
being evacuated must be protected and any choosing to stay behind also
must be protected, she said, noting that the ICRC was not directly
involved in the negotiations.
"The army continues to advance towards ... Sukkari, what remains of Seif al-Dawla, part of al-Amiriya and Tel al-Zarazir," a military spokesman told Reuters during a tour of recaptured parts of Aleppo.
"When the army regains control of these areas, its operation in the eastern areas of the city ... will have finished," he said.
The spokesman added that rebels were continuing to reject withdrawing from the city.
The U.N. human rights office says it has received reports of pro-regime forces killing at least 82 civilians as they entered eastern Aleppo.
Spokesman Rupert Colville of the U.N. human rights office says the reports recount pro-government forces entering homes and killing some civilians "on the spot" in the former rebel enclave.
Colville spoke to reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.
He says 11 women and 13 children were among those reportedly killed in four neighborhoods of the increasingly-shrinking rebel enclave in the city of Aleppo.
Colville says the reports came in late the previous evening and that he doesn't know exactly when the killings took place. (With Reuters, AP)
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