First group from Aleppo reaches safe zone

HATAY, Turkey

The first group of people evacuated from Aleppo has reached the opposition-controlled safe zone in Syria, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters at the Cilvegozu Border Gate in southern Hatay province, Turkey’s border province with Syria, Kaynak said the first civilian group was evacuated in 20 buses.

“[Evacuees] have arrived at the Free Syrian Army-controlled safe zone just outside Aleppo,” he said.

“There are 30-35 injured among those. Some of them have high number of burns and, unfortunately, some are critically injured,” he added.

Kaynak said six injured were brought to Turkey.

Also, he said Turkey was considering setting up tents in a safe zone in Syria in case of any call from opposition forces on the ground.

“As the Republic of Turkey, we are also working on those who are sick, wounded, elderly and children who need special care,” he added.

Noting there were around 80,000 to 100,000 people in Aleppo, Kaynak said: “Idlib does not have the physical capacity to accommodate so many people.”

According to an agreement between the Assad regime and Syrian opposition groups, civilians evacuated from eastern Aleppo will continue to head towards Idlib, which is located near the border with Turkey.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than a quarter of a million people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research, however, put the death toll from the six-year conflict at more than 470,000 people.

*Reporting by Ismihan Ozguven and Anil Bagrik; Writing by Handan Kazanci