Friday, 16 December 2016

Aleppo battle: What next for the evacuees?

There are growing concerns over the fate of thousands of civilians and fighters being evacuated from rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo. Most are being moved to neighbouring Idlib province, where aid groups say conditions are inadequate, with insufficient food and medical supplies.

How many have left?

At least 6,000 people have left the area, including 3,000 fighters and more than 300 wounded, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group.
But many fighters have refused to leave. Some have expressed fears of being detained or forced to join the Syrian army. Others say they will resist and will die fighting.
The UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, estimated on Thursday that some 50,000 people, including 40,000 civilians, were still trapped in eastern Aleppo.
The operation has been marked by delays and mutual accusations of breaches of the deal. The evacuation of two pro-government towns, Kefraya and Foah, besieged by rebels, was part of the truce.
An activist in Aleppo told Reuters news agency that people had been waiting on the streets with bags of belongings in what was described as a very slow operation.
Children were "hungry and crying" and people were "exhausted", not knowing if buses would arrive to take them out.

Where are they going?

The evacuees are being transferred to rebel-held areas in neighbouring Idlib province. Many have been taken to temporary camps while others have found shelter with relatives, aid workers say.
The critically wounded have been sent to "overwhelmed" hospitals in government-held western Aleppo, the World Health Organization says. Some have brain and eye damage and missing limbs, while others are being treated for chronic diseases including diabetes, it adds.Others have been taken to facilities in Idlib and Turkey.
Turkey, which helped to broker the evacuation, was preparing to help set up a camp for up to 80,000 people inside Syria near the border, officials told Reuters news agency. Some 30,000 to 35,000 people were expected to go there.
However, Turkish officials said the injured and the sick would still be allowed into Turkey.

What are conditions like in Idlib?

In many places conditions are already inadequate, with families staying in crowded buildings still under construction with no heat, toilets or running water, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) says. And villages in the countryside are said to be getting full.
A doctor who is volunteering at a makeshift hospital in Idlib said there was no equipment to monitor patients. "Even the Intensive Care Unit doesn't have a ventilator," he said in a video posted on Facebook.
And Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said Idlib had "no physical capacity to accommodate so many people", according to the country's Dogan news agency.
Idlib already hosts some 230,000 displaced people in and around 250 informal camps, according to the IRC.

Will they be safe in Idlib?

Aid agencies have raised concerns over the security of those in Idlib, one of the last strongholds of the Syrian opposition. Most of the area is controlled by a powerful rebel alliance that includes the jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly known as the Nusra Front).
The province has been repeatedly bombed by the Syrian and Russian air forces, and analysts believe it will be one of the next targets of Syria's government.
Mr Mistura, the UN envoy said: "If there is no political agreement and a ceasefire, Idlib will become the next Aleppo."

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