Rebels to Leave: Battle for Aleppo Has Ended

Russian UN ambassador confirms the deal
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 13, 2016 12:29 PM CST
Rebels to Leave: Battle for Aleppo Has Ended
In this Dec. 5 photo, smoke rises following an airstrike on insurgent positions in eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo, Syria.   (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

After four years, the battle for Aleppo is apparently no more. Russia's UN envoy on Tuesday confirmed what rebel officials had said a short time earlier: The fighting would cease Tuesday night, with rebel fighters leaving the city." My latest information is that they indeed have an arrangement achieved on the ground that the fighters are going to leave," Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

Though Reuters reports the rebels are saying civilians will also exit for opposition-held areas, the BBC reports it's unclear if the deal actually extends to them. NBC News' sources say the agreement does include civilians, and that five buses will empty out the eastern portion of the city at 5am Wednesday. NBC reports that while the Syrian government hasn't confirmed any of this, the shooting did halt after news of the cease-fire broke. (More Aleppo stories.)

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