16th convoy arrives in Syria's Aleppo from E. Ghouta

By Omer Koparan

IDLIB, Syria

A 16th convoy carrying civilians and opposition fighters from Syria’s Eastern Ghouta district, a besieged suburb of Damascus, arrived in Aleppo’s Al-Bab district Thursday morning.

The convoy of buses carried 633 people, including 233 children and 180 women, who will be provided with temporary accommodation in district.

According to Anadolu Agency correspondents based in the area, evacuations remain ongoing from different parts of Eastern Ghouta.

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

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

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

Evacuations are being carried out 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 in early March launched a major ground offensive -- backed by Russian forces -- 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 only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 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.