Battle Of Aleppo Is Over as Evacuation Deal Reached

The deal was announced just as civilians inside the rebel enclave said they had lost hope. They had spent days huddled in abandoned apartments under heavy shelling, as those with a record of opposing the government said they were bracing for arrest, conscription or death.

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[under the deal,] Russia, Turkey and Syrian rebel groups announced that they had agreed to evacuate all of the remaining fighters to rebel-held territory, with civilians free to join them or move to government-held areas, leaving the whole city of Aleppo in government hands.

If the deal is carried out, and all rebel fighters leave as agreed, it would mark a major turning point in Syria's nearly six-year war. It would put all of the major cities along the country's more populous western spine back under government control, though Kurdish militias and the so-called caliphate of the Islamic State continue to hold large areas to the east.

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The battle over Aleppo has been a particularly painful chapter of the war, dividing and largely destroying one of the world's oldest and most beautiful cities, a World Heritage site, amid mounting human suffering. The eastern, rebel-held half of Aleppo had become unlivable, with rebels unable to stop the government's indiscriminate bombing, which destroyed entire neighborhoods, let alone deliver a better life. The government-held districts were far less damaged, and daily life there was more normal, but residents there suffered too, from indiscriminate rebel shelling

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The deal was struck after widespread concern about the fate of civilians, with the United Nations warning of "a complete meltdown of humanity" and protests breaking out at United Nations headquarters in New York and Russian embassies in several cities, including London, Stockholm and Istanbul. There were also protests in rebel-held territories to the north, with residents demanding rebel leaders do something to protect Aleppo residents.