Close to 8,000 civilians evacuated from Aleppo: Turkish FM

A sixth convoy is currently "en route to safety" and approximately 8,000 civilians have so far been evacuated from the Syrian city of Aleppo, said Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

The evacuation from the last opposition position in Aleppo began on Thursday under a ceasefire deal brokered by Turkey and Russia that would end years of fighting for the city and mark a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Five convoys of buses have successfully evacuated civilians, the heavily wounded and opposition fighters to Idlib. The sixth convoy has left the war-torn city of Aleppo. The number of buses being used has reportedly doubled to about fifty.

"There are a lot of buses now," Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said.

Aleppo had been divided between government and rebel areas of control in the nearly six-year civil war, but a lightning advance by the Syrian army and its allies that began in mid-November saw the insurgents lose most of their territory in a matter of weeks.

The ceasefire was violated twice by the Syrian regime and Iran-backed Shiite militia before the people of Aleppo were able to be evacuated.