Aleppo Evacuations Halt As Syria Accuses Rebels Of Breaking Truce

Syrian state TV said evacuations of civilians and opposition fighters from eastern Aleppo were suspended Friday morning after rebels opened fire on a convoy at one of the crossing points of the rebel-held enclave. 

It wasn’t immediately clear how long the suspension, which was announced within a couple of hours after the evacuations resumed on Friday, would last. 

Explosions and gunfire were reported near at least one of the primary evacuation sites. 

Syrian state TV also claimed the rebels had tried to take with them captives they had seized and were holding in the rebel enclave, which would be a violation of the cease-fire deal agreed to allow the evacuations. 

Lebanon’s Al-Manar Hezbollah TV said the Syrian army stopped the process because the rebels had violated the cease-fire deal. Hezbollah militiamen are fighting in the Syrian civil war alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces. 

The Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV said buses that were parked at the Ramouseh crossing point left the area after it was targeted by gunmen. 

A World Health Organization official in Aleppo confirmed to the Reuters news agency that the evacuation operations were aborted, and WHO, International Red Cross and Red Crescent staff told to leave the area with buses and ambulances. 

Elizabeth Hoff said “nobody has the number” of people still trapped in eastern Aleppo but the WHO believed there to be a “high number of women and infants” and many other people still stuck and waiting to get out of the small opposition enclave. 

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