An agreement was reached Saturday to resume the evacuation of Syria’s eastern Aleppo. The evacuation was suspended Friday because of demands from pro-government forces who wanted two villages — Foua and Kfarya — evacuated. Residents of the villages will be included in Saturday’s exodus, which has yet to begin.
The Syrian government suspended the evacuation Friday after blasts and gunfire were heard in Aleppo. Both rebels and government forces accused the other of breaking the fragile cease-fire agreement.
The Syrian government ordered trucks and buses that had been carrying people out of the rebel-held parts of Aleppo to turn around as the army set up roadblocks along the highway that had been used in the evacuation.
Turkey, which has been heavily involved in the Aleppo peace process, said the suspensions were temporary.
Syria’s government said the rebels broke the agreement by trying to smuggle heavy weapons and hostages out of Aleppo. However, the rebels accused the government of suspending the evacuation as a way to pressure them into releasing civilians from Foua and Kfarya, the two government-held Shi’ite villages under siege by the rebels.
The government said the evacuations in the villages had to coincide with those in eastern Aleppo, but the rebels had said the two are unrelated.
Talks planned
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is working with Turkey to start a new round of peace talks on Syria with a goal of a nationwide cease-fire.
The U.N. Security Council met in a closed-door emergency session Friday to discuss Aleppo and more talks are planned Saturday.
France, which called for the meeting, wants international observers on hand to monitor the evacuation of civilians. Previous cease-fires collapsed almost immediately, putting a halt to evacuation efforts.
The conflict in Syria, which began nearly six years ago as a protest against the government, has so far killed more than 310,000 people and forced millions of people to flee their homes.
Watch: John Kerry: Key partners do their part in Syria
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “We have witnessed indiscriminate slaughter, not accidents of war, not collateral damage, but frankly purposeful, cynical policy of terrorizing civilians.”
Kerry said the United States is going to work to save lives and continue pushing all parties in Syria toward a resolution and allow full access by humanitarian groups throughout all of Syria.
U.S. President Barack Obama has denounced the “horror” in Aleppo and warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad he cannot “slaughter his way to legitimacy.”
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