Aleppo branded a ‘Russian tragedy’ as ‘crying’ civilians make their way out of the ruins
THE first civilians to leave the siege of Aleppo climbed aboard rescue buses yesterday as Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon declared the devastated city a “tragedy of Russia’s creation”.
Sir Michael Fallon put the blame of the situation in Aleppo on Russian forces
Aleppo has been almost completely retaken by president Assad’s Russian-backed forces in an assault of “incredible brutality”.
Civilians in rebel-held areas have been bombarded by Russian air strikes while attempts at securing a ceasefire have collapsed repeatedly.
After a London summit of the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State, Sir Michael said: “Aleppo is a tragedy of Russia’s making.”
Residents of East Aleppo give final messages to the world
The civilians were evacuated in a bus convoy
I saw some of them crying. This is almost my feeling in a way
But the truce held long enough for two bus convoys to ferry more than 1,000 people out of the flattened city.
Wissam Zarqa, an English teacher in the rebel zone, said most people were happy to be leaving safely.
But he said: “Some of them are angry they are leaving their city.
More than one thousand people managed to leave the city on the convoy today
“I saw some of them crying. This is almost my feeling in a way.”
But experts believe the fighting will follow them to their new destination, the rebel-held Idlib province.