Aleppo: New ceasefire reached to allow rebel evacuation

Syrian rebel groups have said a ceasefire agreement has been reached in war-torn Aleppo, while a pro-government militia has said the evacuation of opposition fighters will take place in “coming hours”.

On Thursday morning, a media outlet run by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, reported that a ceasefire had been reached and that rebel groups will be allowed to evacuate besieged pockets of eastern Aleppo.

Hezbollah had previously denied reports of an agreement, citing “big complications” during negotiations.

Officials from the Nureddin al-Zinki and the Ahrar al-Sham rebel groups confirmed to AFP news agency that a new truce deal had come into effect after hours of violence on Wednesday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said hostilities were ongoing after an earlier agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey collapsed.

Under the initial plan, thousands of civilians and rebel fighters were due early on Wednesday to evacuate the east of Syria’s second city, scene of some of the worst violence in more than five years of war across the country.

The delay came on Wednesday morning when pro-government Shia militias demanded that civilians in Kafraya and al-Fua – two towns besieged by armed opposition groups – be evacuated, as well.

‘Dead lying in the street’

But cold and hungry civilians who had gathered before dawn to leave were turned away by pro-government militias.

“Bombing is ongoing, no one can move. Everyone is hiding and terrified,” activist Mohammad al-Khatib told AFP from inside east Aleppo.

“The wounded and dead are lying in the street. No one dares to try and retrieve the bodies.”

Syrian state television said rebel rocket fire on government-controlled areas also had killed at least seven people.

Former al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat Fateh al-Sham said on Wednesday that one of its suicide bombers detonated a car bomb at a regime position in southern Aleppo.

Turkey said it would meet with Russia and Iran in Moscow on December 27 to discuss a political solution to the conflict in Syria.

Syria’s army has pressed a month-long assault that has seen it take more than 90 percent of the former rebel stronghold in east Aleppo.

Turkey has said those leaving would be taken to Idlib province, which is controlled by a powerful rebel alliance that includes Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.

Sharif Nashashibi, a writer and Middle East analyst, said the Syrian government’s advances in Aleppo had created “a sense of emboldenment, that they can do what they want”.

“However, at least part of the impetus of this was the fence-mending process between Turkey and Russia, which brokered the ceasefire,” he told Al Jazeera. “If the ceasefire works it will contribute to that process, but if it fails it will strain it.”

Summary executions

The UN said on Tuesday that it had credible reports of at least 82 civilians, including 11 women and 13 children, being executed in recent days.

And the UN’s Commission of Inquiry for Syria said it had received reports opposition fighters were blocking civilians from fleeing Aleppo and using them as human shields.

Aleppo, a cultural and economic hub second only to Damascus in importance, had been split between a rebel-controlled east and government-held west since 2012.

It was unclear how many civilians remained in rebel territory, after an estimated 130,000 fled to other parts of Aleppo during the government advance since mid-November.

Syria’s conflict has evolved from largely unarmed protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad into a full-scale civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced more than half of the country’s prewar population.

Marwan Kabalan, a Syria analyst and associate political analyst at the Doha Institute, said he expects the Syrian government to focus its attacks on the Damascus suburbs after the fall of Aleppo.

“I think the regime will turn next to targeting the Damascus suburbs,” he told Al Jazeera. “Idlib is becoming a point of exile for fighters … I think it will remain like this till the very end [of the conflict].

“For now, the top priority for the international community and the opposition is to get the civilians evacuated from [eastern Aleppo].”

#Aleppo Evacuation Delayed, Opposition Blames Pro-Assad Militia

The evacuation of rebel-held eastern Aleppo was delayed on Wednesday and, while a war monitor said the reason was unclear, an opposition official blamed Shi’ite militias allied to President Bashar al-Assad for the hold up.

A ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkey ended years of fighting in the city and has given Assad his biggest victory yet after more than five years of war.

Officials in the military alliance fighting in support of Assad could not be reached immediately for comment on why the evacuation was delayed.

Sources on Tuesday had given different expected start times for the evacuation. A military official in the pro-Assad alliance had said the evacuation was due to start at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT), while opposition officials had been expecting a first group of wounded people to leave earlier.

However, none had left by dawn, said a Reuters witness waiting at the agreed point of departure. Twenty buses were waiting there with their engines running but showed no sign of moving into Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern districts.

“There is certainly a delay,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory, a war monitor.

Officials with Aleppo-based rebel groups accused Shi’ite militias backed by Iran of obstructing implementation of the Russian-brokered deal. The pro-opposition Orient TV cited the negotiation committee in eastern Aleppo as saying there was no clear reason why the wounded had yet to be evacuated.

Assad has been backed by an array of Shi’ite militias from across the region in his campaign for Aleppo.

Read More: reuters

Fires Rage Across Calais Refugee Camp Amid Evacuation

Massive fires have been raging overnight through the refugee camp in the French port city of Calais that has been at the center of much controversy recently. This as authorities have been trying to evacuate thousands of refugees to other reception centers across the nation.

It is not exactly known who started the fires, with initial reports pointing the finger of blame at refugees opposed to the destruction of the camp.

But French authorities said later that they were investigating claims that ‘No Borders’ activists were indeed responsible for the arson attacks. The British group campaigns against borders and immigration controls.

The French government finally decided to completely demolish the infamous shantytown after a few earlier attempts to partially dismantle it. The operation got underway on Monday amid much opposition from the camp’s residents.

Fires billowing black columns of smoke into the air left some of the protesting refugees with major injuries, while others were treated for smoke inhalation at the scene.

According to local officials emergency services workers were attacked with stones and other projectiles as they tried to put out the flames, and riot police had to intervene to deal with the chaos.

Residents told officials that activists had come into the settlement in the middle of the night and set off canisters, hence starting the fires.

Demolition workers on Tuesday started tearing down the tents where up to 8,000 refugees, including 1,200 children, mainly from Afghanistan, Sudan and Eritrea, have been living in dire conditions.

Last month, President Francois Hollande pledged to definitely and entirely raze the camp after a visit to Calais.

More than 1,200 police and officials have already been deployed in the northern port city in what Paris calls a “humanitarian” operation. But a large number of refugees are said to be resisting evacuation.

Credit: presstv

Bomb Threats Prompts White House Press Room Evacuation

The White House press room was evacuated over a bomb threat after a phone call alerted the Metropolitan Police Department, White House Spokesman , Josh Earnest, said on Tuesday. The Secret Service interrupted White House spokesman Josh Earnest’s televised news briefing shortly after 2 p.m. and escorted journalists out of the building.

While journalists were out of the press room secret service officers combed the venue looking for explosives with the help of a sniffer dog. A little more than 30 minutes later, an all-clear signal was given, and journalists were led back to the press room. President Barack Obama and his family were not evacuated, according to Earnest.

The White House evacuation came within hours of another evacuation happening at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, located in the northeastern part of the Capitol Hill. This was after the U. S. Capitol Police received a phone call reporting a package was found in a room inside the building.

The Capitol Hill evacuation was taken as a precaution, which disrupted an ongoing hearing at the time. The police later investigated the case but no result of the investigation is available so far.

Creditvanguardngr

Niger Urges Evacuation Of Lake Chad Over Boko Haram Attacks

Niger authorities have urged people living on islands in Lake Chad to leave to avoid new attacks by Boko Haram, after an assault by the Islamists last weekend left at least 74 dead. The weekend attack was the country’s heaviest loss since it joined a regional offensive against the militants, and saw authorities declare three days of mourning from Wednesday. “The governor of Diffa invites people living on the islands in Lake Chad to rejoin the mainland,” a statement on Thursday said, citing security reasons.

“Measures will be taken to ensure their safety and resettlement,” the statement added.

Diffa is the provincial capital of south-eastern Niger, which borders north-eastern Nigeria, considered the jihadists’ stronghold. Niger has several islands in Lake Chad, a vast body of water between it, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, the regular site of deadly Boko Haram raids. Niger lost at least 46 soldiers and 28 civilians in the Boko Haram attack on the island of Karamga on Saturday.

Interior Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said on Wednesday that “156 terrorists” were also killed in the assault on an army base on the island, and that 32 troops were missing. He said Niger had since retaken control of Karamga.

Niger, along with Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, has recently launched a joint offensive to end Boko Haram’s six-year insurgency, which has claimed 13 000 lives and caused about 1.5 million people to flee their homes.

 AFP

Rep Calls For Evacuation Of Nigerians From South Africa

The Chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Nnenna Elendu-Ukeje, has called for immediate evacuation of Nigerians within 24 hours from South Africa if the ongoing attacks on foreigners continue unabated.

Ms. Ukeje (PDP-Abia), in an interview with newsmen on Thursday, said the call became necessary due to increasing attacks on Nigerians and non Nigerians alike in South Africa. “The Federal Government of Nigeria should rise up to the occasion by having contingency plans to evacuate Nigerians within 24 hours to avoid us losing our citizens to this attacks.

“It is expedient to think of where all Nigerians can gather within 24 hours for safety either in our embassy or mission for the safety of our citizens,” she said.

The lawmaker suggested a concrete arrangement with some airlines to evacuate Nigerians back home while the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) should equally be mobilised to take care of the returnees.

Ms. Ukeje noted with concern that the xenophobic attack was degenerating to Afrophobic as many black Africans, including Nigerians, were being attacked from Johannesburg to Durban.

Creditpremiumtimesng