Cessation of Syrian hostilities needed to stop Idlib becoming next Aleppo, UN envoy warns

A cessation of hostilities across Syria is vital to avoid another battle like the bloody fight for Aleppo, the UN special envoy has warned.

Steffan de Mistura said thousands of people evacuated from rebel-held areas of Aleppo after a crushing government offensive could suffer a similar fate in their new refuge outside the city.

At least 34,000 people, both civilians and fighters, have been evacuated from east Aleppo in a week-long operation, the latest UN figures show.

"Many of them have gone to Idlib, which could be in theory the next Aleppo," Mr de Mistura warned in Geneva.

Thousands of refugees from Aleppo were bussed to Idlib, arousing fears that the rebel-held city in north-western Syria could be next.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has declared that the war is far from over and said his armed forces would march on other rebel-held areas.

Evacuees from Aleppo had expressed concerns about being taken to Idlib and a senior European diplomat said earlier this month that this would suit Russia, the Assad regime's main military backer, as it would put "all their rotten eggs in one basket".

The last group of civilians and rebels holed up in a small enclave of Aleppo was expected to leave in the next 24 hours, with the Syrian army and its allies seizing all of the city, delivering the biggest prize yet of the nearly six-year war to Mr Assad.

In comments after meeting a senior Iranian delegation, Mr Assad said his battlefield successes were a "basic step on the road to ending terrorism in the whole of Syria and creating the right circumstances for a solution to end the war".

Russia's air force conducted hundreds of raids that pulverised rebel-held parts of Aleppo, while Iran-backed militias, led by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, poured thousands of fighters into the city to fight the rebels.

More fighters were evacuated overnight from east Aleppo to opposition-held areas under an agreement between the warring sides, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

"In one of the last stages of the evacuation, more than 4,000 fighters were evacuated in private cars, vans, and pick-ups from eastern Aleppo to western rural Aleppo," ICRC spokeswoman Krista Armstrong said.

This brought to around 34,000 the total number of people evacuated from the district over the past week in an operation hampered by heavy snow and wind, she added.

"The evacuation will continue for the entire day and night and most probably tomorrow [Friday]. Thousands are still expected to be evacuated," Ms Armstrong said.

The foreign and defence ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow on Tuesday and agreed to help broker a new peace deal for Syria.

Russia is not discussing the future of Mr Assad in its talks with Iran and Turkey, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

Mr de Mistura said that a cessation of hostilities across Syria was a "priority" and having "regional players like Turkey, Russia and Iran talk to each other is a good thing".

Quoting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr de Mistura said talks expected to be held in Kazakhstan were "not considered a competition, it is complementary and a support to the preparation of the UN role [in Syrian peace talks] on 8 February."

Additional reporting by Reuters