Turkey, Iran discuss evacuation of Aleppo civilians

By Ilkay Guder

ANKARA

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Iran’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri discussed the latest situation in Aleppo over the phone on Friday, a source at the Prime Ministry said.

Yildirim told Jahangiri about the recent attack on a convoy of civilians leaving eastern Aleppo by pro-Syrian regime foreign terrorist groups, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

He said the humanitarian situation in eastern Aleppo remains alarming and Turkey was ready to do its best for civilians trapped there, the source said.

The premier also said Turkey was willing to cooperate with Iran to evacuate civilians from eastern Aleppo and provide humanitarian aid to the region, the source said.

Jahangiri offered Yildirim his condolences over the PKK terrorist group's bombings that left 44 people, including 36 police personnel martyred on Saturday evening in Istanbul, the source said.

The Iranian vice president also said Iran wants the evacuation process from Aleppo to go ahead without any problems and added that cooperation with Turkey on the evacuation process would continue, the source said.

At least 7,500 civilians have so far left eastern Aleppo for safe areas in Idlib, according to Syrian opposition group officials.

Since mid-November, more than 775 civilians have been killed and 2,500 injured in regime attacks on opposition-held parts of Aleppo, according to local civil defense officials.

Syria has been locked in a devastating 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, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.