The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

After the decision of staying in Aleppo and in the extreme weather conditions… hundreds of families change their decision and prefer displacing of city than to remain under the control of the regime

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights was informed by reliable sources, that hundreds of families who stayed in the square which was under the control of the factions (which includes the neighborhoods of al-Mashhad and Ansari and parts of al-Sekkary, al-Zebdiyyeh, Salahuddin and Seif al-Dawla in the southwest of the eastern Aleppo) and after the exit of last batch of civilians and fighters from this square on Wednesday evening, they changed their opinion and the decision of staying in their homes within the square, and came out with a new decision which is to get out of this square and displacing to the western countryside of Aleppo, where it was not clear yet the reasons behind changing their decision, whether they were persuaded by international and local organizations to displace out of fear of being harmed, arrested or assaulted by the regime forces and militiamen loyal to them of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, or there are reasons hidden until now for this sudden decision for hundreds of families.

And the sources confirmed to the observatory that these families began to leave towards the western countryside of Aleppo so the displacement process re-starts a new phase, after the completion yesterday of the exit operation of for the last batch of fighters and civilians out of the besieged square on Wednesday the 21st of December 2016, thus the regime forces backed by gunmen loyal to them of Syrian nationality, the Lebanese Hezbollah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards and other gunmen of non-Syrian nationalities have regain control of the entire city of Aleppo with the exception of points controlled by factions and take as positions in Jam’eyyat al-Zahra’a neighborhood at the Western outskirts of Aleppo city, after 1612 days of control by the rebel and Islamic factions on the eastern side of Aleppo city, which is after 4 years and 5 months, and which was started by the factions in the 21st of July 2012, by attack under the leadership of the martyr Abdel Qader Saleh, the commander of Al-Tawhid Brigade, which began by controlling Masaken Hanano neighborhood and other areas in the eastern part of Aleppo city, and being able to besiege regime forces’ controlled areas in Aleppo city, during the first half of the year 2013, until Iran helped the regime to lift the siege and reopen the road of Aleppo – Khanasser, and regain control of al-Sfireh town in the southeastern countryside of Aleppo.

The Observatory also was informed that hundreds of fighters and their families, and people coming out of the besieged square in Aleppo have stayed waiting for about two days under harsh weather conditions and bitterly cold; at Ameriyah – Ramouseh crossing to be allowed to go towards the 4th al-Rashedin area in the western countryside of Aleppo, where it is still expected the arrival of tens of vehicles that have remained stuck on the road from Ramouseh crossing to al-Rashedin area, because of the bad road due to bombing over the past four years, in addition to the poor weather conditions and snow accumulation and the breakdown of several vehicles, and they were expected to arrive after the exit of all fighters and leaving their guard points and headquarters in the square, and boarding buses or private cars on their way to the outside of the square towards the crossing area.