Turkey talking to Russia, Iran to try to keep Aleppo evacuation on track

Turkey is talking to Russia and Iran to try to ensure a ceasefire in Aleppo holds and civilians and opposition fighters can be evacuated, despite efforts by the Assad regime to prevent it, Turkey's foreign minister said on Wednesday.

The ceasefire, brokered on Tuesday by Turkey and Russia, was supposed to allow the evacuation of opposition-held eastern Aleppo from dawn on Wednesday but has been delayed. Assad forces resumed shelling for about half an hour on Wednesday, opponent officials and witnesses told Reuters.

"There was an understanding as of yesterday, and within that was first the evacuation of civilians ... We see that the regime and other groups are trying to prevent this," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told reporters in Ankara.

"We are continuing our meetings. We will speak with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Iranian foreign minister again today," he said.

Russia's defence ministry said that dissidents in Aleppo had resumed fighting at dawn, but that regime forces had repelled their attacks, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

A senior Turkish official told Reuters the ceasefire deal was very fragile but not broken, despite the reports of attacks in the city on Wednesday.

Çavuşoğlu said preparations had been completed for camps in Turkey and northern Syria planned for those fleeing Aleppo.

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on Tuesday that Turkey, which is already home to around 2.7 million Syrians who have fled the country's civil war, would set up a tent city to accommodate up to 80,000 people fleeing Aleppo.