Deal reached to allow rebel fighters to leave Aleppo

Russia's UN envoy has said a deal has been reached on the ground in Aleppo to allow fighters to leave the besieged city.

"My latest information is that they indeed have an arrangement achieved on the ground that the fighters are going to leave the city," Vitaly Churkin said, adding it could happen "within hours maybe".

Mr Churkin said the deal only allowed fighters to leave the city: "Now it's [Aleppo] going to be under the control of the Syrian government, so there is no need for the remaining civilians to leave and there are humanitarian arrangements in place.

"Our military people who are there are not observing any abuses of international humanitarian law.

"The agreement is for the fighters to leave. The civilians, they can stay, they can go to safe places, they can take advantage of the humanitarian arrangements that are on the ground. Nobody is going to harm the civilians."

However, a rebel official said the majority of the estimated 50,000 people still in eastern Aleppo are expected to leave rebel held areas.

The President of eastern Aleppo's local council said the evacuations would begin at 5am local time on Wednesday, with the International Red Cross managing the process, although a lack of trust in Russian implementation remained.

They continued that the first group of people are due to leave the Syrian city in the coming hours "unless something new happens".

A Turkish Government source said rebels will be able to take light weapons with them under the agreement, of which Turkey and Russia are guarantors.