MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Russia’s Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria has completed the operation to pull out militants and their family members from eastern areas of Aleppo, all women and children have been evacuated from the rebel-controlled quarters.
"The operation of the Russian Reconciliation Center on the withdrawal of militants and their family members from eastern areas of Aleppo has been completed. All women and children staying in the quarters controlled by the militants have been evacuated," the center said in a statement.
More than 4,500 militants and 337 wounded persons have been withdrawn from Aleppo, it said. In total, more than 9,500 people have been evacuated from eastern Aleppo since the operation started.
The center said citing those evacuated by the last convoy that all those wishing to leave eastern Aleppo were able to do so.
The center also said that Syrian army’s operation to recapture eastern Aleppo from militants had been completed by and large.
"The Syrian army’s operation to retake quarters of eastern Aleppo from militants has been completed. Government troops are eliminating the few remaining pockets of resistance," the reconciliation center said.
The Russian Reconciliation Center is evacuating militants and their families from Aleppo’s eastern quarters at the instruction of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Syrian authorities have granted safety to all members of armed groups leaving eastern Aleppo.
The operation began on Thursday. People were evacuated through a humanitarian corridor to Idlib. Some 20 passenger buses, 10 ambulance vehicles and nearly 100 cars of the militants were involved in the effort. The representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) also took part in the operation.
Earlier in the day some mass media reports said that the evacuation of the militants and their families from Aleppo was suspended after the convoy suddenly came under fire.