Dozens of Civilians Leave Terrorist-Held Area in Aleppo

Date: 13 January 2020 - 21:35

News ID: ۷۵۰۲۳

DAMASCUS (Dispatches) – Dozens of civilians have left the terrorist-held areas in Syria’s Aleppo province through a humanitarian corridor set up recently by Russian and Syrian forces, state news agency SANA reported.
The civilians left on Monday via the al-Hadir crossing in the southern countryside of Aleppo, said the report.
Syrian helicopters on Sunday dropped leaflets in terrorist-held areas in Aleppo province in northern Syria, urging civilians in both Aleppo and Idlib provinces to leave the areas through the newly-opened humanitarian corridors.
The corridors are prepared for the civilians who are willing to leave terrorist-held areas to government-controlled ones in Idlib, which is part of the implementation of a truce in the region, a military source told Xinhua.
Russia’s Defense Ministry had also said in a statement late on Sunday that civilians could leave a de-escalation zone in Syria’s Idlib Province.
The ministry said it had received many requests from Syrian civilians in Idlib in areas controlled by terrorist groups to return to their homes in territory controlled by Syrian government forces.
All conflicting parties in the Syrian province of Idlib ceased military activities starting Sunday midnight.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said Russia and Turkey agreed to introduce a ceasefire in the province, starting at 0:00 local time (22:00 GMT) on 12 January.
The Syrian army started a military operation in southeastern Idlib on 19 December to clear the area of terrorists, including the Daesh and Tahrir al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front. By 24 December, more than 40 villages in Idlib had been retaken by the government troops.
In their latest operation, the Syrian Army units thwarted attacks by Tahrir al-Sham terrorists in southeastern Idlib and inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists by destroying a large number of their armored vehicles and killing several of them.