Aleppo has returned to government control, Syrian army says
The city of Aleppo has returned to government control, a statement by the Syrian armed forces says - ending a four-year rebel hold over parts of the city.
The statement broadcast on Syrian TV said the army has re-established "security" in the northern city after the last rebels evacuated from their final toe-hold in the eastern parts of the city.
The Syrian government’s recapture of Aleppo is a major turning point in the Syrian civil war with potentially powerful political repercussions.
It represents a momentous victory for President Bashar Assad and a crushing defeat for Syria’s opposition, which will struggle to forge a way forward.
The ancient city has been divided into rebel and government parts since 2012.
"Thanks to the blood of our heroic martyrs, the heroic deeds and sacrifices of our armed forces and the allied forces, and the steadfastness of our people, the General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces announces the return of security and stability to Aleppo," said the statement read by an army general.
The statement said the victory in Aleppo is a "strategic transformation and a turning point in the war on terrorism and a deadly blow to the terrorist project and its supporters".
It is a further incentive, it added, to go on fighting to "eradicate terrorism and restore security and stability to every span of the homeland".
Celebratory gunfire across #Aleppo tonight. Pro-regime say "victory won with blood of"
— Riam Dalati (@Dalatrm) December 22, 2016
Rebels call it "Dancing over charred corpses"#Syria pic.twitter.com/AmMQmkVE3V
Syrian President Bashar Assad said earlier that his forces’ achievements in Aleppo are a "major step on the road to wiping out terrorism" and should pave the way toward ending Syria’s civil war.
The rebel evacuations were set in motion last week after Syria’s opposition agreed to surrender its last footholds in eastern Aleppo.
Since then, some 35,000 fighters and civilians have been bused out, according to the United Nations.
The ICRC said in a statement that more than 4,000 additional fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans, and pick-ups from eastern Aleppo since Wednesday.
The departure of the last convoy paves the way for Mr Assad to assume full control after more than four years of fighting over Syria’s largest city.
It marks his most significant victory since an uprising against his family’s four-decade rule swept the country in 2011.
Opposing fighters leave last remaining areas in East Aleppo. The regime declare complete control of Aleppo.-Fatemah
— Bana Alabed (@AlabedBana) December 22, 2016
