46-bus civilian convoy arrives to Aleppo’s W. outskirts

Forty-six busses carrying civilians evacuated from war-battered Aleppo arrived in the city's western countryside on Monday, according to local opposition sources.

The sources said evacuees from opposition-held parts of eastern Aleppo had arrived to the Al-Rashdeen district on the city's western outskirts aboard a 46-bus convoy.

Ten other buses carrying civilians, meanwhile, also set out from the towns of Al-Fuah and Kefraya, the same sources added, requesting anonymity due to fears for their safety.

The evacuation process resumed Monday under an earlier deal brokered by Turkey and Russia according to which some 20,000 civilians and fighters are to be evacuated from eastern Aleppo on Monday and Tuesday.

Civilian evacuations are also planned from the cities of Madaya and al-Zabadani -- involving some 1,500 people -- as well as from Al-Fuah and Kefraya, which boast a combined population of about 15,000.

Last week, Syrian opposition forces in eastern Aleppo reached a ceasefire deal with the Assad regime to allow civilians to be evacuated from the city.

Since the evacuation process began last Thursday, some 14,000 people have departed Aleppo for the nearby province of Idlib near the Turkish border, according to local sources who spoke to Anadolu Agency.

Anadolu Agency correspondents in Idlib say 10 buses bringing civilians from Al-Fuah and Kefraya had safely arrived to Aleppo's western outskirts since the resumption of the evacuation process.

On Sunday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed by phone the ongoing evacuation of civilians from Aleppo, according to a Turkish presidential source.

In recent weeks, numerous reports have emerged of violence being perpetrated against civilians in Aleppo, once considered an opposition stronghold.

The evacuation process was temporarily suspended on Friday after pro-regime foreign terrorist groups attacked a civilian convoy leaving the city, leaving a number of evacuees dead.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.