Press TV- A total of about 3,000 militants and their families have been evacuated from the eastern part of the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo.
The militants along with their families were transferred from Aleppos eastern side in 40 buses to the citys western half since the early hours of Monday.
Meanwhile, the so-called UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday that an estimated 500 people had been taken out of the two besieged Shia villages of al-Fou'a and Kafaryain the neighboring Idlib Province.
Recently, Russia and Turkey reached a deal enabling the evacuation of thousands of trapped civilians and militants from Aleppo.
The process was, however, halted after the militants violated the ceasefire deal and blocked the transfer of civilians from al-Fou'a and Kefraya.
On Saturday, it was reported that the government and the militants were working on a new deal to resume evacuations from the villages as well as two towns near the Lebanese border.
The United Nations said on Sunday that the evacuations had resumed. The process, which was initially set to start earlier in the day, was postponed after the militants attacked and burned around 20 of the buses that had arrived to transport people out of the city.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"]
Smoke rises from green government buses in Idlib Province, western Syria, on December 18, 2016 after militants set fire to the vehicles, which had arrived to take civilians to safety. (Photo by AP)[/caption]Takfiri militants seized Aleppo back in 2012. The city was recently restored to government control on the back of a month-long military operation. The Syrian government is now in control of all major cities.
Russia, France formulate good Aleppo proposal
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council is scheduled to vote on a draft resolution on Aleppo evacuations at 9:00 local time (1400 GMT) in New York.
Russias Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Sunday that says Moscow has composed a good draft resolution together with Paris on a UN monitoring process to ensure safe evacuations out of Aleppo.
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Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin[/caption]The UNSC was previously scheduled to vote on a French-drafted proposal on Sunday. Russia had, however, taken exception to the draft, saying the monitors were far from prepared to take on the mission.
The Russian mission had, accordingly, threatened to veto the resolution, which it condemned as nothing but a disaster and said it would put forward its own proposal. Frances UN envoy Francois Delattre had, however, ruled out the possibility of any compromise on the contents of the draft with the Russian mission.
Commenting on the likely composition of the agreed text, a source from one of the delegations at the UNSC told journalists that the Council had been discussing the possibility of merging the Russian and French texts, Russias Sputnik news agency reported.
The amended draft resolution would prevent "mass atrocities" in areas still besieged by militants in Aleppo, Delattre said.
The liberation of Aleppo has not sat easily with the devoted opponents of the Syrian government, who have been open-handedly providing militants with financial and political support over the past five years to secure the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad. The militants have been receiving patronage from the United States, Turkey, and certain Persian Gulf states.
Iran, Russia, Turkey defense chiefs to meet
Separately, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan is to hold talks with his Russian and Turkish counterparts Sergei Shoigu and Fikri Isik respectively in Moscow on Tuesday to address the regions most recent developments and the situation on the ground in Syria, especially Aleppo.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi said at his weekly press conference on Monday that he meeting comes following a telephone conversation between the Iranian and Russian defense chiefs held on Saturday.
Top diplomats from the three countries were scheduled to the status quo in Syria in the Russian capital on December 27. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi, however, said on Monday that the meeting had been pushed forward to Tuesday.
Tehran and Moscow support the elected Syrian government and have been assisting Damascus in its fight against terrorism.
Iran has been providing military advisory support for the Syrian military in its counter-terror operations.
Russia has been carrying out airstrikes on positions of Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria since late September 2015, while Iran has been providing military advisory assistance to the Arab country.
Syria rages at infanticide
Also on Sunday, the Syrian government sent separate messages to the UNSC and the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, condemning the terrorists using of children for terror operations.
The inhumane actions, Damascus said, indicated that the countries supporting the militants, whom they call moderates, have no concern about the life of the young ones.
The United States, France, the UK, and their allies should immediately stop the support, it added.
