LIVE: Aleppo evacuations

An agreement for the imminent evacuation of civilians and opposition fighters from east Aleppo in Syria has been reached, a rebel official told AFP on Tuesday.

"An agreement has been reached for the evacuation of the residents of Aleppo, civilians and fighters with their light weapons, from the besieged districts of east Aleppo," said Yasser al-Youssef from the political office of the key Nureddin al-Zinki group.

He said the deal was "sponsored by Russia and Turkey" and would be implemented "within hours".

 East Aleppo resident Monther Etaky condemns 'unmoved' world

Russia's envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday that a deal for rebel fighters to leave their last pocket of territory in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo did not apply to civilians.

Going into a meeting of the UN Security Council, Vitaly Churkin said: "Now it's going to be under the control of the Syrian government, so there is no need for the remaining civilians to leave and there are humanitarian arrangements in place.

"Our military people who are there are not observing any abuses of international humanitarian law."

"The agreement is for the fighters to leave. The civilians, they can stay, they can go to safe places, they can take advantage of the humanitarian arrangements that are on the ground. Nobody is going to harm the civilians."

Among the many graphic clips being shared on social media today is one that appears to show soldiers repeatedly stabbing a man as he cries out in pain and fear.

The footage - which could not be verified and which is too graphic to reproduce here - appears to show men in matching combat gear stabbing another man, who wears a light blue T-shirt and is standing with his face to a brick wall.

What appears to be a dead body lies on the ground beside him as blood begins to pour from wounds in his back and sides.

The footage was shared by a supporter of the Saudi royal family who appears to be a staunch opponent of the Assad government. 

The siege and eventual recapture of most of Aleppo has been documented in graphic detail on social media. 

However, the footage coming out of the city today, which remains unverified, is the most shocking yet. 

The "counter-terrorism" operation in Aleppo will end within the next few hours, Russia's envoy to the UN told its Security Council on Tuesday evening.

"All militants, together with members of their family and the injured, currently are going through agreed corridors in directions that they have chosen themselves voluntarily," Vitaly Churkin said.

The Security Council was holding a heated emergency session on the situation in Aleppo on Tuesday night. 

Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, asked if Russia was "literally incapable of shame" during the session.

Russia has repeatedly used its position as a permanent member of the Security Council to block proposed ceasefires in Aleppo. 

We are live outside 10 Downing Street where hundreds have gathered to protest atrocities unfolding in east Aleppo.

US journalist and occasional MEE contributor Bilal Abdul Kareem, who is currently on the ground in rebel-held Aleppo, has filmed an update showing the destruction in the former streets of the town. 

The footage shows what appears to be craters caused by "bunker busters", high-powered bombs that can penetrate underground hiding places and shelters.

Residents of besieged eastern Aleppo with severe injuries will begin to be evacuated to safe areas from 5am local time on Wednesday, sources close to the negotiations have told Middle East Eye.

Residents of Aleppo have not yet been told how exactly such an evacuation would be carried out, who would observe it or whether it would include fighters as well as civilians. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters on Tuesday evening that the organisation is "preparing contingency plans, so we are able to act fast if needed".

"At the moment, the different parties are still discussing the details of this agreement and how it will be implemented," ICRC spokesperson Krista Armstrong said from Geneva.

American-born journalist Bilal Abdul-Kareem for On the Ground News sends a final message to the world as government forces edged closer to taking control of east Aleppo. Thanking his viewers Kareem said that "he may not be able to send messages as regime forces edged closer and closer" to his location. Speaking with bombs exploding in the background he said that if he is able to get out of the besieged areas that "OGN will continue to bring news from the ground that you can trust".

Read more here....

Hundreds of people have gathered outside Downing Street at an emergency protest calling for action to help the besieged civilians of Aleppo.

Protesters addressed the prime minister and foreign secretary, chanting "Theresa May, shame on you, Boris Johnson, shame on you". 

Others shouted "Aleppo is burning, it's raining hell". 

Syrian military sources have said that government troops took control of more than 98 percent of rebel-held territory after days of fierce fighting. The announcement comes as thousands are reported to have fled their homes as neighbourhoods continue to fall from rebel control. 

Turkey is to set up a tent city to accommodate up to 80,000 people fleeing the government advance on Aleppo, Turkey's deputy prime minister Mehmet Simsek announced in a tweet on Tuesday evening. 

He did not provide any further details, and did not specify whether the camp will be in Turkish territory or will be in rebel-controlled areas of northern Syria. 

Turkey already hosts around 2.7 million refugees from Syria, making it one of the world's biggest hosts of refugees.

However, tens of thousands more are known to have fled the government offensive on Aleppo in recent weeks. 

The sound of bombardment in the Syrian city of Aleppo had stopped late on Tuesday for more than an hour after a ceasefire deal was reached, a Reuters reporter said, apparently signalling an end of fighting.

Rebels agreed with Damascus's ally Russia that both sides would cease firing ahead of an evacuation of rebel fighters and some civilians from the last remaining opposition-held districts of the city, which was to begin at 5am.

Russia's UN envoy said the Syrian military had stopped its operations in Aleppo in order to allow opposition fighters to leave and the government to establish full control over the city.

An agreement was reached earlier on Tuesday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government on the evacuation of the fighters along with their families and some of the injured, ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters.

"In the process of that, the military operations stopped. There is no need for military operations because they are leaving," he said.

"The bottom line is – if everything is okay – that means that the fighting around eastern Aleppo is over," Churkin said following a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis in Syria's second city.

The Russian ambassador told the council that the fighters "are currently going through agreed corridors, going in directions they have chosen themselves voluntarily including towards Idlib", the rebel-controlled province.

"According to the latest information that we received in the last hour, military actions in eastern Aleppo are over, so there is no issue of some cessation of hostilities or some special humanitarian operation," he said.

We are live from outside the Syrian embassy in London where hundreds have gathered in protest over what is happening in Aleppo.