UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 (UPI) — The United Nations will send monitors to evaluate evacuations form eastern Aleppo after the Security Council unanimously approved the plan Monday.
After hours of negotiations Sunday, Russia agreed to a resolution by France to stop “mass atrocities.” Russia has veto power in the Security Council.
The resolution allows U.N. officials and others to monitor evacuations from eastern Aleppo and the safety of those who remain there.
The 15-member council resolution “demands all parties to provide these monitors with safe, immediate and unimpeded access.” Al Jazeera reported this is the first time the Security Council backed a resolution to send U.N. monitors to Aleppo.
Russia, which backs the Syrian government, has vetoed six similar resolutions.
Syria’s U.N. ambassador, Bashar Jaafari, opposed the resolution. He said his nation respects international humanitarian resolutions, but this one was “just another part of the continued propaganda against Syria and its fight against terrorists.”
Buses carried evacuees from Aleppo to opposition-controlled areas outside the city early Monday, according to Turkish officials and a monitoring group.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an estimated 500 people on 10 buses were evacuated from majority Shia towns of Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province held by U.S.-backed rebels to Aleppo as part of the deal.
Buses were supervised by the Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The process was delayed from resuming Sunday when gunmen attacked six buses sent to take people out of Foua and Kefraya and torched them.
A new deal was reached Saturday for safe passage.
As many as 9,000 people were evacuated from east Aleppo in nine convoys Thursday and Friday until the process was suspended because the two sides accused each other of violating an earlier agreement.
Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Syrian Observatory, said he expected evacuations from Aleppo to be completed Monday.
