Aleppo battle ends: Residents board ambulances, buses; bid farewell to home
16 Dec 2016 6:48 AM GMT
Leaning on crutches and sobbing uncontrollably, Syrians described fleeing the bombardment.
Weeping, hobbling on crutches or dragging suitcases, hundreds of survivors of a devastating government bombardment and siege left the last sliver of opposition-held Aleppo on Thursday, an evacuation that sealed the end of the rebellion's most important stronghold and was a watershed moment in Syria's 5-year-old civil war.- Truck driver Mohamed Suleiman, a Syrian refugee leaving in France, waves a Syrian flag out of the cabin of his vehicle loaded with humanitarian supplies for Aleppo, sponsored by a French medical relief organisation and the city of Paris, in front of the town hall.
- Syrians gather during the evacuation A convoy of ambulances and buses left rebel territory in Aleppo in the first evacuations under a deal for opposition fighters to leave the city after years of fighting.
- Children on a bus during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters and their families from rebel-held neighbourhoods in the embattled city of Aleppo.
- This image released by the Thiqa News Agency, shows civilians gathering for evacuation from eastern Aleppo.
- A Syrian child being carried for the evacuation operation. The rebel withdrawal will pave the way for President Bashar al-Assad's forces to reclaim complete control of Syria's second city, handing the regime its biggest victory in more than five years of civil war.
- Years of resistance were stamped out in a relentless campaign over the past month that saw hospitals bombed, bodies left unburied and civilians blown apart by shells as they fled for safety.
- A Syrian opposition media outlet that is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows residents gather near a green government bus for evacuating from eastern Aleppo, Syria.
- Traumatized residents filtered out to green government buses on a chilly day through Aleppo's streets lined with flattened buildings.
Weeping, hobbling on crutches or dragging suitcases, hundreds of survivors of a devastating government bombardment and siege left the last sliver of opposition-held Aleppo on Thursday, an evacuation that sealed the end of the rebellion\'s most important stronghold and was a watershed moment in Syria\'s 5-year-old civil war.
Leaning on crutches and sobbing uncontrollably, Syrians described fleeing the bombardment.
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