Women and children use ‘safe corridors’ to escape Aleppo – Syria TV reports

Women and children use ‘safe corridors’ to escape Aleppo – Syria TV reports

ALEPPO: -- More than 150 civilians – mostly women and children – have been leaving besieged eastern parts of the Aleppo, according to Syrian TV reports.

Moscow and Damascus say they’ve set up “safe corridors” to evacuate people trapped in opposition-held areas.

Video purports to show families lining up to be taken out of Aleppo, some women boarding a bus with aid.

There are also reports of rebels having surrendered to government forces.

US officials have suggested the purported evacuation is an attempt to depopulate Aleppo – the most important opposition stronghold in the country – so that the army can seize it.

The Syrian opposition has called it a euphemism for forced displacement of residents, which it says would be a war crime.

The 250,000 civilians trapped for weeks inside the rebel-held sector of Aleppo have by and large stayed away so far from the “safe corridors” being offered to those who want to escape.

-- Euronews 2016-08-01