37,500 evacuated from Aleppo says Turkish minister

By Meltem Bulur and Selen Temizer

ANKARA (AA) – A total of 37,500 Syrian civilians have so far been evacuated from the former opposition stronghold of eastern Aleppo, Turkey's Foreign Minister said Tuesday.

On his official Twitter account, Cavusoglu wrote: “37,500 people have been evacuated from Aleppo so far. The goal is to complete all evacuations [by] tomorrow.”

Under a cease-fire agreement secured last week by Turkey and Russia, civilians trapped in eastern Aleppo have been allowed to go to Syria's opposition-held city of Idlib.

The evacuation process, however, was temporarily suspended on Friday after pro-regime foreign terrorist groups attacked a civilian convoy on its way out of the city, leaving a number of evacuees dead.

It resumed Monday under last week's deal allowing thousands of civilians and fighters to be evacuated out of the war-torn city as regime forces closed in.

On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, and Iran on Syria are set to meet in Moscow to discuss the latest developments in Syria, which has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011.

Elsewhere, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Tuesday about 750 other people had been evacuated from the areas of Foua and Kefraya.

The United Nations will send an additional 20 staff to east Aleppo to monitor the ongoing evacuation of thousands of people, UN spokesman Jens Laerke said in a news conference in Geneva.

World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic also said 43 injured people were evacuated on Monday from east Aleppo, bringing to 301 the number of medical evacuations from the Syrian city.

Ninety-three people in a serious condition were sent to Turkey for treatment while the remainder are in Idlib and western Aleppo.

Among the injured people are 42 women and 67 children, Jasarevic added.

*Faith Erel contributed to this report from Geneva.