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Aid Group Expects to Finish Aleppo Evacuations Thursday

by VOA News

   The final evacuations of civilians and rebels from Aleppo, Syria, are
   expected to be completed Thursday, bringing an end to a weeklong
   operation to give the government full control of the important northern
   city for the first time since 2012.

   The International Committee of the Red Cross has been assisting with
   the evacuations and said convoys involving dozens of buses would be
   taking people out of eastern Aleppo throughout the day.

   The ICRC said the last hospital patients in eastern Aleppo were
   evacuated along with others in need of urgent medical care Wednesday.

   Depending on the source, an estimated 25,000-35,000 people have left
   Aleppo. Hundreds more people have left Foua and Kefraya, villages in
   Idlib province besieged by the rebels that the government insisted be
   included in an evacuation agreement.

   Syrians evacuated from the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo during the
   ceasefire arrive at a refugee camp in Rashidin, near Idlib, Syria, Dec.
   20, 2016.

   Meanwhile, the United Nations released a report Wednesday saying an
   airstrike was responsible for devastating an aid convoy in Urem
   al-Kubra, near Aleppo, in September.

   That attack killed least 10 people, injured 22 others and destroyed 17
   aid trucks.

   The U.N. said it could not conclude whether the airstrike was a
   deliberate hit or who was responsible for it. The inquiry found that
   only aircraft belonging to the Syria, Russia or a U.S.-led coalition
   were capable of such an attack, and that rebel forces were not.

   U.S. officials have said they believe Russia was responsible, but the
   Russian government has denied it was involved.

   Also Wednesday, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to set
   up an independent panel to investigate possible war crimes in the
   nearly 6-year-old Syrian conflict.

   The measure says the panel will prepare files for possible criminal
   proceedings in "national, regional or international courts or
   tribunals."

   Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari addresses the
   media following a United Nations Security Council vote aimed at
   ensuring that U.N. officials can monitor evacuations from besieged
   parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo, at the United Nations.

   It notes repeated calls by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the
   U.N.'s human rights office for the Security Council to refer the
   situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court. Russia and
   China have used their veto power to reject several such Security
   Council resolutions.

   Human rights groups applauded the General Assembly's move, but Syria
   and ally Russia denounced it. Syria's ambassador to the U.N., Bashar
   Jaafari called it a "flagrant interference in the internal affairs of a
   U.N.-member state."