Ceasefire and evacuation deal reached for Aleppo

A deal on a ceasefire and evacuation from Aleppo was reached on Tuesday afternoon between the opposition and the government, following reports of mass civilian casualties in the Syrian city, Patria reports.

A member of the Syrian opposition negotiating team confirmed to Al Jazeera that a ceasefire agreement with the Russian side has been reached in Aleppo. The agreement provides for the evacuation of civilians and opposition fighters to areas in the north and west of Aleppo province.

The agreement on the evacuation of civilians and opposition fighters from eastern Aleppo was confirmed to AFP by a rebel official, and confirmed by official Moscow.

"An agreement has been reached on the evacuation of Aleppo residents, civilians and fighters with light weapons from the besieged districts of eastern Aleppo," said Yasser al-Youssef of the rebel group Nuredin al-Zinki.

He added that the agreement is "supported by Russia and Turkey" and will be implemented "within a few hours," which was also confirmed by the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin.

"The latest information I received is that an agreement has been reached there and that the fighters will leave the city," Churkin said.

Sources on the ground confirmed to Al Jazeera that government forces carried out mass executions. These forces are advancing towards the last opposition strongholds in the southeast of the city.

The Russian Ministry of Defense states that opposition fighters now control only three square kilometers in the city.

They add that 375 opposition fighters have surrendered their weapons.

They claim that more than 7,000 civilians have left the war-torn areas in the last 24 hours.

The opposition states that about 100,000 civilians remain in the remaining area.

UNICEF announced, citing medical sources from Aleppo, that more than 100 children are buried under a building that collapsed after an airstrike.

The forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and allied militias are advancing towards the last opposition strongholds in southeastern Aleppo.

Medical sources report that entire families are buried under the rubble and that rescue teams are unable to pull them out.

Turkish-Russian talks

Al Jazeera reporter Zeina Khodr reported from the Turkish-Syrian border that the priority is to save tens of thousands of people trapped in besieged districts and to decide on the fate of the rebel fighters within them.

"Turkey announced that it will hold talks with Russian officials tomorrow, Wednesday. Aleppo is on the agenda - issues of ceasefire and evacuation, but the Turkish Foreign Minister says he does not expect much, that this is a normal meeting, part of the usual dialogue with friends and various actors," Khodr reports.

Ten days ago, secret talks were held in Ankara between Turkish and Russian officials, who discussed Aleppo.

The offensive was already underway, the rebels had lost some territory, but they were not trapped as they are today.

"According to what we learned from opposition sources, some progress was made, and then the United States got involved. Opposition sources, high-ranking officials involved in the negotiations, told me that they were furious because the US decided to move them to Geneva. Washington felt left out of the negotiations, so it moved them. Now, Russian and American negotiators are in Geneva, but the negotiations have reached a dead end. Both sides say there has been a stalemate. However, there is a glimmer of hope that Turkey and Russia could reach some kind of agreement, at least to evacuate civilians and discuss the fate of the fighters, because opposition sources say that Russia currently demands that the rebels surrender and claims that only after that can there be talk of a ceasefire and evacuations," Khodr reports.

Source: Al Jazeera