15th evacuation convoy arrives in Syria's Aleppo

Evacuations are part of Russian-brokered agreement between Assad regime and armed opposition groups

By Adham Kako and Omer Koparan

IDLIB, Syria (AA) - The 15th convoy carrying civilians and opposition fighters from Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district, a besieged suburb of Damascus, arrived in Aleppo’s Al-Bab district on Wednesday.

According to Anadolu Agency correspondents based in the area, evacuations remain ongoing from Eastern Ghouta’s city of Duma.

Turkey’s Operation Euphrates Shield, launched in late 2016, liberated Al-Bab from the Daesh terrorist group.

The operation, which wrapped up in March of last year, largely succeeded in purging the Turkish-Syrian border area of the terrorist presence.

Wednesday's convoy consisted of 22 buses carrying injured people, medical patients and women and children.

At least 50,000 people have been evacuated from Eastern Ghouta since the evacuation process began on March 22.

A 14th convoy carrying over 1,000 passengers arrived in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces on Tuesday.

The evacuations come as part of a Russian-brokered agreement between Syria’s Assad regime and armed opposition groups.

On Feb. 24, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2401, which called for a ceasefire in Syria -- especially in Eastern Ghouta -- to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Despite the resolution, however, the regime and its allies early in March launched a major ground offensive -- backed by Russia -- aimed at capturing opposition-held parts of the district.

Since Feb. 19, more than 1,400 people have been killed in attacks by the regime and its allies in Eastern Ghouta, according to local civil-defense sources.

Home to 400,000 residents, Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years, which has prevented the delivery of badly needed humanitarian supplies.

Syria has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN officials, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict to date.

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