At least 25,000 people have been moved out of Aleppo since evacuations began last week, the ICRC has said. The Syrian government has also allowed additional UN staff to monitor the rest of the evacuations.
Advertisement
Ingy Sedky, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on Tuesday that "[y]esterday (Monday) only, we evacuated 15,000 people from east Aleppo. If we consider those evacuated on Thursday too, then the total should be 25,000."
That figure was also provided by the ICRC's Mideast regional chief, Robert Mardini, on Twitter.
However Sedky also conceded that the "evacuations (are) not over yet" and that there are "still thousands remaining" in bombed-out areas of the city as they wait to be bussed out.
Evacuation out of Aleppo will continue throughout Tuesday and could even be concluded by Wednesday, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The ICRC has been monitoring the evacuation deal brokered last week between Russia and Turkey. They will soon be joined by an additional 20 UN staff from Damascus after the Syrian government on Tuesday gave its permission to allow more international staff to oversee the evacuations.
UN spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva that "[t]his will almost triple the number of international staff currently deployed to Aleppo."
"We do not have independent UN access to the buses, so we are not able to enter and access people; that does not take away from the protection concerns that we do have and continue to have," he added.
The UN Security Council had on Monday unanimously called for UN officials to observe the evacuations out of Aleppo and monitor the safety of civilians still remaining in the city.
As part of the deal, Syrian rebels besieging the Shiite villages Foua and Kfarya in Idlib province have also allowed some 2,000 people to evacuate.
The pro-government Al-Ikhbariya television station on Tuesday broadcast images of civilians arriving from Foua and Kfarya to government-held areas, escorted by ICRC vehicles. Sedky confirmed that some 750 people have so far been bussed out of the villages.
With civilians and rebels leaving the last opposition-held enclaves in eastern Aleppo, the city has effectively been surrendered to Syrian government forces after more than four years of fighting.
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces, said that Syrian army troops are to enter the last rebel footholds in eastern Aleppo later on Tuesday, marking the return of the entire city to government control.
Ambassador assassination overshadows Syria talks
Foreign ministers from Russia, Iran and Turkey are scheduled to meet in Moscow Tuesday for discussions on Syria. However, those talks are likely to be overshadowed by the killing of Russia's ambassador to Turkey, Andrei Karlov, on Monday in Ankara.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday's assassination made Moscow even more determined to press ahead with talks on Syria that will offer "no concessions to the terrorists."
Lavrov told Russian media that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed on Monday following the attack that "this tragedy makes us more decisive in fighting terrorism and makes our today's meeting even more important."
Ahead of Tuesday's talks, Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart, Cavusoglu, laid flowers in front of the portrait of the deceased ambassador.
dm/tj (Reuters, AP, AFP)
The battle for Aleppo
Re-establishing full control over Aleppo has been seen as critical to the fortunes of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a multi-sided civil war now in its sixth year.
Image: Reuters
Aleppo before the war
Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafiz al-Assad ruled the country with an iron grip and draconian state of emergency laws. Many experts believed that after Hafiz handed over the reins to his son Bashar, the latter would pave the way for a "Damascus spring" and usher in political and economic reform.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Haidar
2011: Violence breaks out
But instead, Bashar chose to stick to the old by suppressing the opposition with the help of Syria's dreaded security forces. His repressive leadership came under heavy pressure as it tried to stifle growing protests among its population with a brutal crackdown.
Image: dapd
2012: Rebels take parts of Aleppo
In early 2012, rebels took control of the rural areas northwest of Aleppo. Protesters were shot at for the first time in July and rebels started to fight for the city itself. Poorer eastern districts quickly fell to the insurgents.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
2013: Rebel gains
People ran for their lives upon hearing a nearby plane dropping bombs during a protest against President Assad in the al-Katerji Tariq district in Aleppo February 22, 2013. After losing the international highway between Hama and Aleppo, the government fought to keep alternative supply lines south of Aleppo accessible.
Image: Reuters/M. Salman
Umayyad Mosque destroyed
In April 2013, the minaret of Aleppo's Umayyad Mosque, which was built between the 8th and 13th centuries, collapsed after being struck during fighting. After nine months of fighting that devastated many districts in Aleppo, rebels controlled more than half of the city.
Image: Reuters/M. Barakat
Suffering citizens and first barrel bombs
A father mourns the death of his two children. The western, government-held half of Aleppo comes under almost complete siege as rebels briefly cut the alternative route. The first barrel bombs were dropped on Aleppo in December 2013.
Image: Reuters
2014: Rebels and government both consolidate positions
Members of the Civil Defence rescue children in the al-Shaar neighborhood of Aleppo, June 2, 2014. The government's control of the skies starts to show as it increasingly uses jets and helicopters to strike rebels.
Image: Reuters/S. Kitaz
2015: Massive rebel gains and Russian intervention
A general view shows a damaged street with sandbags used as barriers in Aleppo's Saif al-Dawla district, March 6, 2015. A series of rebel advances put the government under pressure in northwest Syria.
Image: Reuters/H. Katan
Putin meets Assad in Moscow
Russian President Putin and Syrian President Assad met in Moscow, October 20, 2015. Soon after, the first Russian air strikes took place. Although Russia announced that its air force was ready to provide support to the Free Syrian Army in its fight against the "Islamic State", Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also stressed that his forces were still backing Assad.
Image: Reuters/RIA Novosti/Kremlin/A. Druzhinin
2016: The siege and bombardment of Aleppo
Syrians reaching out for Russian food aid. The text on the bag, which shows the Syrian and Russian national flags, reads: "Russia is with you". In July, government forces fully encircled eastern Aleppo for the first time. The siege was broken ten days later by a rebel counterattack.
Image: Reuters/O. Sanadiki
Evacuation of Aleppo
After months of intense bombardment in which many hospitals were hit, the Russian and Syrian governments urged rebels and civilians to evecuate east Aleppo. On December 13, insurgents agreed to withdraw in a ceasefire deal. The evacuation began the next day.