Militants Reach Deal With Russia, Iran on Aleppo Evacuation - Reports

Ahrar ash-Sham militants have reached an agreement with Russia and Iran on the evacuation from eastern Aleppo, media reported on Saturday.

MOSCOW, December 17 (Sputnik) — The sides have agreed that the remaining civilians and militants would leave Aleppo in return for selective evacuation from the Syrian towns of Foua, Madaya and Zabadani, Al Arabiya TV channel said citing an audio record from Ahrar ash-Sham.

The information has not yet been confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation or Syrian authorities.

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry's center for Syrian reconciliation said that the Syrian army's operation to liberate the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo was over, and that the Syrian government troops were eliminating separate hotbeds of militants' resistance. On the same day, the reconciliation center said that the operation to evacuate militants and their families from Aleppo ended.

Humanitarian situation in the Syrian cities of Foua, Madaya and Zabadani has seriously deteriorated, as the battle between the government troops and militants is ongoing, with many civilians trapped in the cities and suffering from starvation.