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Aleppo Evacuation Halted Amid Confusion and Concerns About Killings Aleppo Evacuation Halted Amid Confusion and Concerns About Killings
(about 9 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The evacuation of residents from the last rebel-held section in the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo broke down on Friday with thousands of people still trapped inside, as concern escalated about their fate.BEIRUT, Lebanon — The evacuation of residents from the last rebel-held section in the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo broke down on Friday with thousands of people still trapped inside, as concern escalated about their fate.
The breakdown — a day after Syrian government buses and ambulances had begun taking them out — came amid multiple accounts that a convoy of 1,000 evacuees had been stopped by pro-government militiamen, who shot several passengers, execution style, before sending the rest back. The breakdown — a day after Syrian government buses and ambulances had begun taking people out of the besieged area — came as Russia claimed, incorrectly, that all civilians wishing to leave had already been evacuated and that only “irreconcilable” fighters remained, further raising fears among those still trapped.
The government’s recapture of Aleppo, once the country’s commercial center, after a prolonged siege by Syrian forces aided by their Russian allies has been exalted by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria as a turning point in the nearly six-year-old war. But the images of death, suffering and destruction from the siege have shocked the world. Tensions came to a head on Friday afternoon, when a convoy of hundreds of evacuees was detained and turned back by pro-government militiamen. They blocked the way, according to rebel and pro-government fighters, because insurgents in Idlib Province, farther north, were blocking an evacuation of civilians from two villages besieged by rebels.
“The carnage in Syria remains a gaping hole in the global conscience,” Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, told reporters at an end-of-year news conference. “Aleppo is now a synonym for hell.” There were also multiple accounts that the pro-government militiamen shot dead several passengers in the convoy, detained at least six and took telephones, laptops and documents from others, before sending the rest back into the rebel enclave. Those accounts could not immediately be independently confirmed. Russian and Syrian officials say that government forces are protecting civilians.
The reported summary killings on the convoy were conveyed via telephone by two civilian witnesses and two rebel leaders, and they could not immediately be corroborated further. The government’s recapture of Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial epicenter, after a prolonged siege by Syrian forces aided by their Russian allies has been exalted by President Bashar al-Assad of Syria as a turning point in the nearly six-year-old war. But the images of death, suffering and destruction have shocked the world.
Zaher al-Zaher, an antigovernment activist on the convoy, said militiamen at a checkpoint with yellow flags stopped the convoy, forced Red Cross and Red Crescent escorts to leave, and began taking cellphones and laptops from the evacuees. One unarmed passenger accosted them for talking impolitely to his pregnant wife, Mr. Zaher said in a telephone interview, “so they shot him on the spot,” along with two others. Civilians and fighters had been being bused out of the shrinking rebel area under a deal struck between Russia, which backs the Syrian government, and Turkey, which supports the rebels.
Zouhair al-Shimale, another activist reached briefly by phone, said that he was on the convoy when militiamen stopped it, handcuffed the men and shot four, telling them, “It’s payback.” The breakdown was blamed on hard-line spoilers on both sides — pro-government, Iran-backed Shiite militias and the Qaeda-linked Levant Conquest Front on the rebel side — illustrating the fragmentation of both government and rebel forces that makes implementing any deal harder and riskier.
The precise reasons for halting the evacuation after more than 8,000 people, mostly civilians but also some insurgent fighters, had been taken to safety was not immediately clear. The deal became more complicated after Iran, Syria’s other main ally, which has sponsored thousands of Shiite militiamen to shore up government forces, added a new demand: Evacuations from Foua and Kfarya, two government-held minority Shiite villages encircled and frequently shelled by rebels who had intensified attacks during the government offensive in Aleppo. Rebel leaders said a deal was struck to evacuate wounded people from the villages.
Nor was it known whether the operation had been suspended temporarily. Nearly 10,000 civilians and fighters had been bused out of eastern Aleppo by Friday morning, Russian and opposition officials agree, but none from Foua and Kfarya. Al Manar, the television channel of the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which fights alongside the Syrian government, showed what it said were protesters blocking the convoy route out of eastern Aleppo.
Syrian state news media accused the rebels of seeking to smuggle weapons out of the area and of firing on the convoys of evacuees, while antigovernment activists said pro-government militias had blocked the passage to protest the continued siege of two Shiite villages by rebels. The accounts of killings and abuses on the stopped convoy were conveyed via telephone and by text and video messages by four civilian witnesses and two rebel officials. The militiamen forced the convoy’s Red Cross and Red Crescent escorts to leave the area, witnesses said, meaning the escorts did not see the whole episode.
Russia appeared to have compounded the confusion by issuing statements declaring — incorrectly — that the evacuation of civilians and fighters from the rebel enclave had been “completed”; that “all women and children” had been bused out, leaving only “irreconcilable and radical” armed fighters; and that Syrian government forces were “liquidating the radicals’ remaining points of resistance.” France said on Friday that it would sponsor a United Nations resolution requiring “international observers” to monitor the evacuations; the United States said it would support the move, a largely symbolic gesture because of a likely Russian veto. The Syrian government has denied United Nations staff permission to monitor the process, and the I.C.R.C. avoids roles that involve making public reports, to preserve its access to all sides.
The World Health Organization said that staff members had been asked to leave the area where residents of eastern Aleppo had gathered to be evacuated, but that it did not know why the process had been halted. Zaher al-Zaher, an antigovernment activist in the convoy, said militiamen at a checkpoint with yellow flags stopped the vehicles, fired in the air and began taking cellphones and laptops from the evacuees. One unarmed passenger accosted them for talking impolitely to his pregnant wife, Mr. Zaher said in a telephone interview, “so they shot him on the spot,” along with two others.
“No reason was given,” Elizabeth Hoff, the World Health Organization’s representative in Syria, told journalists in Geneva, speaking by telephone from the United Nations base in west Aleppo. Zouhair al-Shimale, another activist reached briefly by phone, said he was in the convoy when militiamen stopped it and shot four men, telling them, “It’s payback.”
“A very high number” of civilians still need to get out of eastern Aleppo, including many women and children under 5, Ms. Hoff said. It is unclear how many people remain in the rebel enclave, but most estimates put the figure at 50,000 to 100,000. Several other passengers described being forced to lie down, remove shoes or some of their clothes and hand over possessions.
Many people had gathered at evacuation points Friday morning, only to return to their neighborhoods when the operation stopped. A photograph that rebel spokesmen said showed part of the episode portrays a dozen men lying face down on a road at gunpoint. Geolocation techniques showed that the image matched the reported location of the stop and a photograph of the halted convoy taken from a distance by a British journalist in government territory.
Ms. Hoff said she assumed the decision came from officials in Russia, whose military is overseeing the evacuation. The United Nations had no contact with Syrian officials throughout the operation on Thursday. Many more people had tried and failed to get on the convoy, and were still milling around the area; they ran when they heard gunshots. Videos showed crowds of people fleeing in panic from the evacuation point past wrecked buildings, crying, wrapped in blankets, carrying or dragging children, though it was unclear if the shooting that can be heard was related to the alleged killings.
Hospitals in western Aleppo were “overwhelmed” by residents of nearby government-held areas, as well as by people from the east who were wounded in the conflict or needed treatment for chronic diseases, she said. Earlier, Russia declared the evacuation “completed,” saying “all women and children” had been bused out, leaving only “irreconcilable and radical” armed fighters. It said Syrian government forces were “liquidating the radicals’ remaining points of resistance.”
The evacuations, brokered by Turkey and Russia and carried out by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the Red Cross, began Thursday morning after violence in the city caused delays. The evacuations continued overnight, providing hope that the cease-fire between the government and rebel forces in the city would hold. But the World Health Organization’s Syria representative, Elizabeth Hoff, said thousands remained, including many women and many children under 5. She said W.H.O. staff had been ordered to leave the evacuation area Friday morning, but “no reason was given.”
Before Friday’s suspension, more than 8,000 people had been removed from the rebel enclave, according to the state news media and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which opposes the Syrian government and tracks the conflict from Britain. Rebel leaders said they were deeply concerned by Russia’s statements playing down civilians’ presence because it had been the guarantor of the evacuations. They feared it had lost control of Iran and its ground allies, and was seeking to absolve itself of any new violence against civilians.
The group attributed the suspension to the failure of a separate operation to evacuate civilians from two Shiite villages in nearby Idlib Province, Fua and Kfraya, that have long been surrounded by rebel forces. Adding to the volatility of the situation, many of the Levant Conquest Front’s fighters have already been bused out of eastern Aleppo, according to a civilian who rode with them. That could give the hard-line group less incentive to cooperate with the Idlib evacuation.
While buses had departed on Thursday for the villages, no residents had left by Friday morning, leading gunmen from pro-government militias to block the road out of the rebel enclave in Aleppo.
Robert Mardini, the Middle East director for the International Committee of the Red Cross, confirmed the suspension but did not provide the reason.
The two Shiite villages, which have been surrounded for years by Sunni rebels forces that often shell them, were not originally part of the evacuation deal. They were added after pro-government gunmen fired on the evacuation convoys on Wednesday.
The evacuation deal followed a long siege of the rebel-held area by Syrian government forces and their allies, during which shelling and airstrikes by Russian and Syrian jets killed hundreds of people and reduced much of the area to rubble. Rebels also shelled government-held areas of the city, killing and wounding civilians.
Mr. Assad, speaking in a video released by his office on Thursday, described the evacuation as “history that is being written,” comparing it with historic events like the birth of Christ and the world wars.
Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the Syrian government in harsh terms. “The Assad regime is actually carrying out nothing short of a massacre,” he told reporters in Washington on Thursday.
Under the terms of the deal, civilian evacuees can stay in government-held areas or can go to rebel-held areas to the north or west. Evacuated fighters can go only to rebel areas.
Turkey says it is planning to set up camps for the displaced in northern Syria, near their border.
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia said on Friday that he was working with Turkey to begin a new round of talks in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, aimed at ending the war.
Previous peace talks, overseen by the United Nations and held in Geneva, have failed to end the war, which has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced about half of Syria’s population.
The crisis in eastern Aleppo has divided world opinion. Many Western countries, Turkey and Persian Gulf states have backed the rebels, criticizing the Syrian government and its allies for their prosecution of the war.
For their part, Syria, Russia and Iran have characterized the rebels as “terrorists” serving foreign agendas and seeking to destroy the country. A report on Friday from the Syrian state news agency, Sana, said that more than 8,000 “terrorists and their families” had been evacuated from Aleppo.
The United Nations and the Red Cross say that most of those leaving are civilians.