BEIRUT — As Syrian forces poised for the final sweep to take the last rebel holdouts in eastern Aleppo on Tuesday, world leaders and aid agencies issued dramatic appeals that the lives of thousands of civilians who have "nowhere safe to run" be spared and that government troops fighting to capture what's left of the rebel enclave refrain from atrocities.

The U.N.'s human rights office said it has received reports of pro-government forces killing at least 82 civilians in four neighborhoods of the increasingly-shrinking rebel enclave, including 11 women and 13 children.

Spokesman Rupert Colville said the reports recount pro-government forces entering homes and killing some civilians "on the spot" in the former rebel enclave. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, he said the reports came in late the previous evening and that he doesn't know exactly when the killings took place.

The reports, which could not be independently confirmed, reinforce concerns of mass casualties in eastern Aleppo in the final hours of the battle for the city, which has been split into a rebel and government-held part since 2012.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement late Monday that he is alarmed over reports of "atrocities" against a large number of civilians, including women and children, in the past hours in Aleppo. While stressing that the United Nations is not able to independently verify these reports, the U.N. chief said he conveyed his grave concern to the relevant parties.

Several residents and opposition activists have told The Associated Press that government forces were carrying out summary killings of rebels in the streets in neighborhoods captured on Monday, but the Syrian military flatly denied the claims, saying such allegations were "a desperate attempt" to try gain international sympathy.

Mohammed Abu Rajab, the administrator of the last remaining clinic in rebel-held parts of the city, said people killed and wounded are left on the streets.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said hundreds of bodies are still under the rubble.

A press release by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said that multiple sources have reports that tens of civilians were shot dead on Monday in al-Ahrar Square in Kallaseh neighborhood, and also in Bustan al-Qasr, by government forces and their allies, including allegedly the Iraqi Shiite militia known as al-Nujabaa.

The dramatic appeals for sparing civilian lives came a day after the Syrian military announced it now holds 99 percent of the former rebel neighborhoods of Aleppo, signaling an impending end to the rebels' four-year hold over parts of the city.

Retaking Aleppo would be President Bashar Assad's biggest victory yet in the country's civil war. Aleppo has long been regarded as a major gateway between Turkey and Syria.

But a government win in Aleppo does not end the conflict — significant parts of Syria are still outside government control and huge swaths of the country are a devastated waste-land. More than a quarter of a million people have been killed.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also on Tuesday urged all fighting in Aleppo to spare civilian lives. It said that thousands of people in eastern Aleppo with no part in the violence "have literally nowhere safe to run."

"In order for this to happen, we appeal to the parties to put humanity ahead of military objectives", said ICRC's head of delegation in Syria, Marianne Gasser, who is currently in Aleppo. "We stand ready to oversee the implementation of any mutual agreement that puts civilians first. We cannot urge this strongly enough: this must happen."

In Moscow, which has been Assad's major ally in the war, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday that rebels are holding out a neighborhood roughly the size of 3 square kilometers (1.16 square miles).

Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus' called for an immediate cease-fire and if that is too late, he called on the international community, European countries, regional countries and Turkey to organize an international aid convoy to people in need in Aleppo.

French President Francois Hollande pressed for Russia to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians trapped in rebel-held parts of the city, saying the Aleppo "humanitarian situation ... is unacceptable."

The French leader said 120,000 people were being "held hostage, there is no other word for it — who are victims of bombing, who are victims of repression" in Aleppo and that everything must be done to allow the population's evacuation.

"Without the Russians, there is no Syrian regime that can carry out operations" on the scale of what is happening in Aleppo, Hollande added, saying that the Russians "will be responsible for a situation that they helped create if they do nothing to allow access for humanitarian aid." </s> BEIRUT, LEBANON (10:40 P.M.) – The jihadist rebels of Fatah Halab and Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham carried out another heinous massacre prior to leaving the last east Aleppo neighborhoods this past week, an SAA officer from the Republican Guard told Al-Masdar News on Friday.

Over 100 hostages from the Syrian Arab Army, mostly young men between the ages of 18-25, were summarily executed by the jihadist rebels prior to their departure from the Sukkari and Bustan Al-Qasr districts of east Aleppo.

“These massacred soldiers were comprised of men that were captured by the jihadist rebels over a four year span in the Aleppo Governorate; they were unable to smuggle their hostages from the Sukkari School, so they chose to execute them instead,” the SAA officer added.

The photos above were released by pro-government journalists reporting from eastern Aleppo – the soldiers have not yet been identified.

Some reports indicate that a large number of the executed soldiers were beheaded before the jihadist rebels left; this could not be verified by Al-Masdar.

The Syrian Arab Army’s High Command demanded the release of these soldiers before the jihadists departed from east Aleppo; however, the latter denied having any hostages.

More details to come…

Advertisements </s> Residents of east Aleppo have sent out desperate messages imploring the international community to save civilians in besieged districts of the Syrian city, as forces loyal to the president, Bashar al-Assad, bear down on the remaining enclaves still controlled by the opposition.

The rebellion of Aleppo appeared to be in its death throes as Assad’s troops and Iranian-backed militias took control of the vast majority of the territory once held by the opposition, coming within sight of a crucial victory in the war that has cost tens of thousands of lives over four and a half years.

The Syrian army and its allies are in the “last moments before declaring victory” in Aleppo, a Syrian military source told Reuters, after rebel defences collapsed on Monday, leaving insurgents in a tiny, heavily bombarded pocket of ground.

The bombardment of rebel areas of the city continued nonstop on Monday.

“The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They [REBELS]don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” Lieutenant General Zaid al-Saleh, head of the government’s Aleppo security committee, told reporters in the recaptured Sheikh Saeed district of the city.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, expressed “grave concern” over unverified reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children.

In a statement, Mr Ban stressed the obligation of all parties “to protect civilians and abide by international humanitarian and human rights law. This is particularly the responsibility of the Syrian government and its allies.”

The UN humanitarian adviser on Syria, Jan Egeland, said the Syrian and Russian governments must be held responsible for any atrocities committed by militias loyal to Assad.

The situation was described as a kind of “doomsday” by one resident, Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, a teacher living in the besieged districts who has been documenting the destruction of the city online for months.

The Syrian army said it now controlled 98 per cent of eastern Aleppo, where residents said they would face death if they stayed to face bombardment by artillery shells and fighter jets or torture and disappearance if they surrendered.

“Aleppo is being destroyed and burned completely,” said Mohammad Abu Rajab, a doctor in the besieged areas of the city, in a voice message.

“This is a final distress call to the world. Save the lives of these children and women and old men. Save them. Nobody is left. You might not hear our voice after this. It is the last call, the last call to every free person in this world. Save the city of Aleppo.”

The advance by Assad loyalists was preceded by some of the most intense bombardment of the war, with non-stop artillery shelling and numerous airstrikes through Sunday night and Monday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the regime had gained control of 90 per cent of east Aleppo after seizing the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Saeed and Saliheen.

Thousands of people had fled the fighting towards government-controlled areas, it added. Thousands more are hemmed inside a dwindling pocket of land in the face of a lightning advance by the regime and crumbling rebel lines.

The observatory’s director, Rami Abdurrahman, said more than 60 civilians and fighters were killed in rebel-held neighbourhoods of Aleppo on Monday alone.

Mr Al-Hamdo implored the international community to save the children remaining in east Aleppo.

“I can tweet now but I might not do it forever. please save my daughter’s life and others. this is a call from a father,” he tweeted.

A local journalist whose organisation documented civilian deaths in the city said he feared imminent arrest as the regime closed in.

“We are terrified of the invasion,” he said. “There are only five neighbourhoods left and the regime is thinking of invading what’s left of the city and arresting all of us. May God grant us that we live longer so we can meet one day.”

A nurse whose civilian father and brother were killed by artillery shells within the space of a few hours said: “I cannot leave because I’m medical staff which means a terrorist in the eyes of the regime.

“I cannot forgive. It is better that God takes my life than to live in humiliation under those who murdered most of my family and my neighbours, and destroyed my country and street and robbed my home.”

“People are under the rubble alive and no one can save them,” said Mr Hamdo. “Some people are injured in the streets and no one can go to help them. The cries and fear of women and children [ARE]heard from the streets.”

The latest advances by Assad’s forces have brought them closer than ever to a major victory in the war. Aleppo, Syria’s former industrial and commercial capital, has been divided between rebel and government forces since 2012 and its fate has long been seen as a signal of the war’s momentum.

East Aleppo, which was estimated to house a quarter of a million civilians before the latest government offensive, has been under a tight siege for months. Rebel offensives to try to break the blockade have failed.

Many residents have been living in great deprivation. They have dwindling food stocks and a lack of fuel, water and electricity, and there are no functioning hospitals after they were bombed in the campaign.

On Monday, the rebels were reported to be contemplating an offer of withdrawal from Aleppo that had Russian and US backing. Reuters said that, under the terms of the deal received by some rebel officials, they would be allowed to leave bearing light arms to any area in Syria.

But Russia denied that an agreement had been reached and an opposition official contacted by the Guardian said his faction, one of the largest in Aleppo, had not received the offer. He said Russia was not interested in a deal that would spare civilians while pro-Assad forces made gains on the ground.

The rebels had proposed a five-day ceasefire to evacuate civilians and the wounded, but that was ignored by Assad and his allies.

“Let us be clear, the regime is insistent on committing a massacre in order to achieve a historic victory against its own people with Russian and Iranian aid,” said Bassam Mustafa, a member of the political office of the Noureddine al-Zenki militia group.

“Therefore, they will not accept any [offer of] safe passage. We challenge them for the thousandth time to discuss anything that is for the good of the civilians that they have been bombing with barrel bombs and chlorine.”

Even though the loss of Aleppo would be a huge blow to the opposition, which will be bereft of any major urban stronghold, there are doubts that the government will be able to consolidate its victories, which have been backed by Russian airpower, on the ground.

On Sunday, the government lost control of the historic city of Palmyra for a second time to Islamic State fighters, despite a wave of intense bombings by the Russian air force the night before. </s> BEIRUT — Syrian rebels said Tuesday that they reached a cease-fire deal with Moscow to evacuate civilians and fighters from eastern Aleppo, after the U.N. and opposition activists reported possible mass killings by government forces closing in on the rebels' last enclave.

There was no immediate comment from Damascus or Moscow on the agreement, which would effectively cede the remainder of Syria's largest city to President Bashar Assad's forces after months of heavy fighting and a crippling siege.

Osama Abu Zayd, a Turkey-based legal adviser for an umbrella group of rebel factions known as the Free Syrian Army, said the cease-fire went into effect Tuesday evening and that the first batch will begin evacuating within hours.

Yasser al-Youssef, a spokesman for the Nour el-Din el-Zinki rebel group, confirmed the cease-fire and said the goal is to evacuate civilians and rebels from besieged areas.

It was not immediately clear whether the hostilities had ceased in Aleppo. The opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling was continuing.

World leaders and aid agencies issued dramatic appeals on behalf of trapped residents earlier Tuesday, and the U.N. human rights office said that pro-government forces reportedly killed 82 civilians "on the spot" as they closed in on remaining rebel districts.

That and other reports of mass killings, which could not be independently confirmed, reinforce fears of atrocities in eastern Aleppo in the final hours of the battle for the city, which has been split between rebel and government control since 2012.

Several residents and opposition activists have told The Associated Press that government forces carried out summary killings of rebels in the streets in neighborhoods captured on Monday, but the Syrian military flatly denied the claims, saying such allegations were "a desperate attempt" to try gain international sympathy.

None of the residents reached by AP witnessed the alleged killings, and their accounts reflected the deepening chaos. Mohammed Abu Rajab, the administrator of the last remaining clinic in rebel-held parts of the city, said people who were killed or wounded are being left in the streets.

Aref al-Aref, a nurse and activist in eastern Aleppo, said civilians had taken cover in a medical center after its staff evacuated two days earlier. He said the army killed them, but pressed for details, said he only heard it from others.

Monther Etaky, a resident of eastern Aleppo, said he also heard reports of summary killings and knows of three families who were reportedly killed.

The U.N.'s children agency said Tuesday that there could be more than 100 unaccompanied children trapped in building under fire in eastern Aleppo, citing a report from an unnamed doctor in the city. Regional director Geert Cappalaere said UNICEF is concerned over the unverified reports of "extrajudicial killings of civilians, including children."

The U.N.'s human rights office said it has received reports of pro-government forces killing at least 82 civilians in four neighborhoods of the rapidly-shrinking rebel enclave, including 11 women and 13 children.

Spokesman Rupert Colville said the reports recount pro-government forces entering homes and killing some civilians "on the spot." He told reporters in Geneva that the reports came in late Monday evening and that he doesn't know exactly when the killings took place.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement late Monday that he is alarmed over reports of "atrocities" against a large number of civilians, including women and children, in the past hours in Aleppo. While stressing that the United Nations is not able to independently verify the reports, the U.N. chief said he conveyed his grave concern to the relevant parties.

A press release by the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said that multiple sources reported that tens of civilians were shot dead on Monday in al-Ahrar Square in Kallaseh neighborhood, and also in Bustan al-Qasr, by government forces and their allies, including an Iraqi Shiite militia known as al-Nujabaa.

The dramatic appeals for sparing civilian lives came a day after the Syrian military announced it now holds 99 percent of the former rebel neighborhoods of Aleppo, signaling an impending end to the rebels' four-year hold over parts of the city.

Retaking Aleppo would be Assad's biggest victory yet in the civil war. But a government win in Aleppo does not end the conflict — significant parts of Syria are still outside government control and huge swaths of the country are a devastated wasteland. More than a quarter of a million people have been killed since the conflict began in 2011 with peaceful protests against the Assad family's four-decade rule.

Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Observatory said hundreds of bodies are still under the rubble.

The International Committee of the Red Cross urged all those fighting in Aleppo to spare civilian lives. It said that thousands of people in eastern Aleppo with no part in the violence "have literally nowhere safe to run."

Russia, which has been a key ally of Assad, said the rebels are holding out in a neighborhood roughly the size of 3 square kilometers (1.16 square miles).

Earlier Tuesday, French President Francois Hollande pressed for Russia to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians trapped in rebel-held parts of the city, saying the Aleppo "humanitarian situation ... is unacceptable."

He said the Russians "will be responsible for a situation that they helped create if they do nothing to allow access for humanitarian aid."

Russia said it was fed up with calls for a halt to the fighting, singling out the Obama administration, which has spent months trying to negotiate a cease-fire.

"We are tired of hearing this whining from our American colleagues in the current administration that we need to immediately halt military action," Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists during a visit to Serbia.

Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb and Zeina Karam contributed from Beirut. </s> Syrian rebel fighters are evacuated from Aleppo towards rebel-held territory in the west of Aleppo's province on December 22, 2016.

Damascus: The Syrian army announced on Thursday that the country’s second city Aleppo has been fully recaptured from rebel fighters, the government’s biggest victory in the nearly six-year civil war.

“Thanks to the blood of our martyrs and the sacrifices of our valiant armed forces as well as allied forces... the general command of the armed forces announces the return of security to Aleppo,” the army said in a statement.

The announcement came shortly after state television reported that the last convoy carrying rebels and civilians had left eastern Aleppo.

Ahmed Qorra Ali, an official with the rebel group Ahrar Al Sham, confirmed that “the last convoy has left the rebel-controlled area”.

Earlier, the Red Cross said that more than 4,000 fighters had left rebel-held areas of the city in the “last stages” of the evacuation.

The United Nations said it had deployed observers to monitor the final evacuations, under a Security Council resolution adopted on Monday.

Rebel forces, who seized control of east Aleppo in 2012, agreed to withdraw from the bastion after a month-long army offensive that drove them from more than 90 percent of their former territory.

The evacuation agreement was brokered by Russia, which launched air strikes in support of Assad’s regime last year, and Turkey, which has supported some rebel groups. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption "Bodies lying on the side of the road, children among them" - BBC Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher

A huge car bomb has blasted a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from besieged government-held towns in Syria, killing about 75 people, state media said.

It shattered coaches and set cars on fire, leaving a trail of bodies including children, as the convoy waited in rebel territory near Aleppo.

There were fears of revenge attacks on evacuees from rebel-held towns, being moved under a deal.

But the exchange later resumed, with coaches reaching safety on both sides.

The "Four Towns" deal brokered by Iran and Qatar was meant to relieve suffering in besieged towns - Foah and Kefraya in the north-west which are under government control, and rebel-held Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus.

Some 20,000 besieged people would be taken out in all. According to AFP news agency, up to 5,000 government evacuees and 2,200 from rebel towns had been stranded in transit on Sunday.

Last month, the UN described the situation in the besieged towns as "catastrophic". More than 64,000 civilians are "trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation", it said.

What do we know of the bombing?

The bomb reportedly went off at Rashidin, west of government-held Aleppo, at around 15:30 local time (12:30 GMT) at the checkpoint where the handover was due to take place.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Injured survivors were taken to hospital in Aleppo

A suicide bomber driving a van supposedly carrying aid supplies blew it up near the coaches, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports.

"A van was distributing crisps," one civilian evacuee told Zaman English News. "Children started running after it. It then exploded."

At least 45 body bags were counted at the scene of the blast, while White Helmets rescuers, who operate in rebel-held areas, said at least 100 people had been killed. Many were also injured.

Images from the scene show bodies lying on the ground outside blackened and devastated vehicles.

Most of the dead were evacuees but they also included several rebels who had been guarding the buses, the Observatory says.

Convoys on both sides had been held up overnight, but by Saturday evening 15 coaches from the government towns had arrived at their destination in Ramouseh while between 25 and 30 carrying evacuees from the rebel towns had reached Rashidin.

Rebels had accused the government of breaching the terms of the deal, accusing it of trying to bring out more loyalist fighters than agreed, along with civilians.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Government evacuees had been waiting under rebel guard when the bomb went off

Where does this leave the rebel evacuees?

According to a 24Aleppo tweet, a special unit of the Russian army surrounded the convoy from the rebel-held towns after the bombing and closed the road there to "prevent any reaction".

Image copyright AFP Image caption The rebel evacuees arrived near Aleppo on Friday

Evacuees from Madaya heard the blast from a bus garage where they had been waiting in Ramouseh, just a few miles away, Reuters news agency reports.

They called on international organisations to protect them from any possible retaliation, saying they condemned the attack on the other convoy.

Madaya resident Ahmed, 24, told Reuters earlier that evacuees had been waiting without drinking water or food at a since Friday night.

The Madaya and Zabadani evacuees are going to rebel-held territory in Idlib province.

Why are the evacuations needed?

Many people are reported to have died as a result of shortages of food or medicine in the four towns.

Foah and Kefraya, most of whose residents are Shia Muslims, have been encircled by rebels and al Qaeda-linked Sunni Muslim jihadists since March 2015.

Madaya and Zabadani, which are predominantly Sunni Muslim, have been besieged since June 2015 by the Syrian army and fighters from Lebanon's Shia Muslim Hezbollah movement.

A previous attempt at mutual evacuations failed in December when rebels burnt coaches due to be sent to the towns.

How desperate is Syria's war?

More than 300,000 people have lost their lives and millions of people have been displaced since a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad six years ago turned into a full-scale civil war.

More than 80 people were killed in a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, in the north-west, on 4 April, prompting the US to bomb a government air base with missiles.

Russia and Iran also have military forces deployed in the country, backing President Assad.

Rescue workers from both the government and rebel sides worked at the scene of Saturday's attack.

"Today, rebels and regime, Sunnis and Shias shed blood, sweat and tears together to save #Syria children," tweeted BBC producer Riam Dalati. "Maybe not all is lost, yet." </s> As President Bashar al-Assad's army closed in on the last rebel enclave in Aleppo on Tuesday, Russia, Iran and Turkey said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal. A rebel fighter stands with his weapon near evacuees from the Shi'ite Muslim villages of al-Foua and Kefraya as they ride bueses in insurgent-held al-Rashideen, Syria December 20, 2016.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Channelnewsasia.com. </s> 200 corpses found in mass grave in Syria’s Raqa: official

BEIRUT: Two hundred corpses, including those of people believed to have been executed by the Islamic State group, were found near the Syrian city of Raqa, a local official and a war monitor said Wednesday. The mass grave contained the bodies of five middle-aged men in orange jumpsuits of the kind typically worn by IS hostages, Yasser al-Khamees and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “They were shackled and shot in the head,” said Khamees, who heads a team of first responders. </s> Syrian rebels tonight said they have reached a ceasefire deal with Moscow to evacuate civilians and fighters from eastern Aleppo.

The deal comes after the United Nations and opposition activists reported possible mass killings by government forces closing in on the rebels’ last enclave.

There was no immediate comment from Damascus or Moscow on the deal, which would effectively cede the remainder of Syria’s largest city to president Bashar al-Assad’s forces after months of fighting and a crippling siege.

Osama Abu Zayd, a Turkey-based legal adviser for the umbrella group of rebel factions known as the Free Syrian Army, said the ceasefire went into effect last night and the first group of people would begin leaving within hours.

Yasser al-Youssef, a spokesman for the Nour el-Din el-Zinki rebel group, confirmed the ceasefire and said the goal is to evacuate civilians and rebels from besieged areas.

It was not immediately clear whether the hostilities had ceased in Aleppo. The opposition-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling was continuing.

World leaders and aid agencies issued dramatic appeals on behalf of trapped residents earlier yesterday. The UN human rights office said that pro-government forces reportedly killed 82 civilians “on the spot” as they closed in on remaining rebel districts.

That and other reports of mass killings, which could not be independently confirmed, reinforce fears of atrocities in the final hours of the battle for the city, which has been split between rebel and government control since 2012.

Several residents and opposition activists said that government forces carried out summary killings of rebels in the streets in neighbourhoods captured on Monday, but the Syrian military denied the claims, saying such allegations were “a desperate attempt” to try gain international sympathy.

The UN’s children agency Unicef said that there could be more than 100 unaccompanied children trapped in building under fire in eastern Aleppo, citing a report from an unnamed doctor in the city.

Regional director Geert Cappalaere said Unicef is concerned over the reports of “extrajudicial killings of civilians, including children”. The UN’s human rights office said it has received reports of pro-government forces killing at least 82 civilians in four neighbourhoods of the shrinking rebel enclave, including 11 women and 13 children.

Spokesman Rupert Colville said the reports recount pro-government forces entering homes and killing civilians “on the spot”. He said the reports came in late on Monday and he does not know exactly when the killings took place.
The bodies of over 100 Syrian Army POWs are reportedly found in what was the last rebel held territory of East Aleppo. Syrian Army officers claim they were executed by rebel forces.