aleppo

RIYADH, Dec 15 – A senior Syrian opposition figure called on Thursday for an increase in Gulf Arab military support for armed rebels following the fall of the city of Aleppo to government forces this week. The loss of the rebels’ last urban stronghold this week has dealt a devastating blow to efforts to oust

By Laila Bassam, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Perry ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT, Dec 15 – An operation to evacuate thousands of civilians and fighters from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo began on Thursday, part of a ceasefire deal that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar

By Lin Taylor ZAATARI REFUGEE CAMP, Jordan, Dec 15 – In a crowded maternity clinic at a refugee camp in Jordan near the Syrian border, Elhem cradled her crying 11-month-old son, bounced him on her knee and then handed him to her mother to help calm him down. “When I had the baby I felt

DUBAI – The Arab states of the Gulf, including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, condemned on Tuesday what they described as “the barbaric shelling” of Aleppo and called on the United Nations to move quickly to provide relief to the Syrian people. Their statement comes as the rebel hold on Aleppo appeared to end, after months of

By Tom Perry, Laila Bassam, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Miles BEIRUT/AMMAN/GENEVA, Dec 15 – When rebel fighters launched a last desperate attempt to break the siege of Aleppo in October, they were beaten back – not by the Syrian army but by the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah fighting on its behalf, a senior official in

By Laila Bassam, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Perry ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT, Dec 15 – Ambulances trying to evacuate people from rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday came under fire from fighters loyal to the Syrian government, who killed at least one person, a rescue service spokesman said. But other buses and ambulances later started moving into rebel-held

AMMAN, Dec 15 – A military media unit run by Damascus’s ally Hezbollah said early on Thursday that overnight contacts succeeded in reviving a ceasefire that would lead to the evacuation of rebels from Aleppo “within hours”. “Intensive contacts between the responsible parties involved in the negotiations led to re-consolidating a ceasefire to exit armed

By Laila Bassam, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Tom Perry ALEPPO, Syria/BEIRUT, Dec 15 – Syrian opposition groups said an evacuation of rebel-held areas of Aleppo was back on track and expected to begin early on Thursday, but uncertainty persisted as a media outlet run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah said truce talks faced “big complications”. Such an exodus

ANKARA, Dec 14 – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone call on Wednesday to make a joint effort to start the evacuation of civilians and opposition forces from eastern Aleppo as soon as possible, Turkish presidential sources said. Putin and Erdogan emphasised the need to prevent the violations

By Astrid Zweynert and Umberto Bacchi LONDON, Dec 14  – A plan to evacuate civilians from eastern Aleppo stalled on Wednesday as renewed air strikes and shelling rocked the city. A ceasefire brokered on Tuesday by Russia and Turkey was intended to end years of fighting in the city, giving Syrian President Bashar al-Assad his