Efforts to Save Evacuation Deal for Battered Aleppo as Clashes Renew

Shelling and air strikes sent terrified residents running through the streets of Aleppo on Wednesday as diplomats strove to save a deal to evacuate rebel-held districts of the city.

The agreement reached Tuesday was meant to pave the way for thousands of civilians and rebel fighters to evacuate Syria's second city, scene of some of the worst fighting in more than five years of war.

But cold and hungry civilians who had gathered before dawn to evacuate were instead plunged back into a familiar nightmare.

"Bombing is ongoing, no one can move. Everyone is hiding and terrified," activist Mohammad al-Khatib told AFP from inside the city.

"The wounded and dead are lying in the street. No one dares to try and retrieve the bodies."

The evacuation, agreed under a deal brokered by Russia and Turkey, had been due to begin at 5:00 am (0300 GMT) but was delayed, with buses parked outside rebel-held areas left waiting.

Fighting then erupted anew in the ravaged city, with President Bashar Assad's regime, the rebels and their foreign allies trading accusations of blame.

Talks were underway Wednesday to save the fraying deal but have yet to produce an agreement, a source close to Syria's government said.

"When an agreement is reached, it will be announced by Syrian authorities," the source told AFP.

- Telephone diplomacy -

As booms of air strikes and artillery fire rang out, an AFP correspondent in rebel areas saw panicked civilians running in the streets to find shelter, some hiding in the doorframes of damaged buildings.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported "very intense clashes on every front line" and said at least two people had been killed in rebel areas.

State television said rebel rocket fire on government-controlled areas had killed at least seven people.

Former al-Qaida affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front said Wednesday evening that one of its suicide bombers detonated a car bomb at a regime position in southern Aleppo.

The Observatory also reported the attack but had no immediate information on casualties.

A source with knowledge of efforts to resuscitate the deal said negotiations were ongoing among Syria, opposition backer Turkey, and regime allies Russia and Iran. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin Wednesday in bid to rescue the deal.

"The situation on the ground is very fragile and complicated," Erdogan said before the call.

And Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to his U.S. counterpart John Kerry on Wednesday, asking that he pressure rebel groups to leave the city. 

Moscow has blamed rebels for violating the ceasefire, saying it expected opposition resistance in Aleppo to end in the next "two to three days."

And a source close to the government said Damascus objected to the number of people leaving, claiming rebels had sought to raise it from 2,000 to 10,000.

But Yasser al-Youssef from the Nureddin al-Zinki rebel group said the regime and its ally Iran sought to link the deal to other issues including the fate of Fuaa and Kafraya, two Shiite-majority villages in northwestern Syria under rebel siege.

Turkey too accused Assad's regime and its supporters of blocking the deal.

- Call for observers -

French President Francois Hollande joined Washington's call for international observers to be sent in to oversee the evacuation.

Hollande said those trapped by the fighting should "be evacuated in a dignified and safe manner, under the supervision of international observers and in the presence of humanitarian organizations."

Before the fighting resumed, crowds of civilians could be seen gathered in the streets of rebel areas from the early hours, some clutching bags of belongings, to await evacuation.

Some had slept in the open, despite the cold and heavy rain, and many were hungry after weeks without regular meals because of dwindling supplies caused by the army's siege.

Syria's army has pressed a month-long assault that has seen it take more than 90 percent of the former rebel stronghold in east Aleppo.

Turkey, which has backed the opposition, said those leaving would be taken to Idlib province, which is controlled by a powerful rebel alliance that includes al-Qaida's former affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front.

The agreement came amid international concern about the plight of civilians in the city, and as the U.N. said it had reports of atrocities being committed by advancing government forces.

- Iran hails 'liberation' -

The U.N. said Tuesday said it had credible reports of at least 82 civilians, including 11 women and 13 children, being executed in recent days.

And the U.N.'s Commission of Inquiry for Syria said Wednesday it had received reports opposition fighters were blocking civilians from fleeing Aleppo and using them as human shields. 

Aleppo, a cultural and economic hub second only to Damascus in importance, had been split between a rebel-controlled east and government-held west since 2012.

It was unclear how many civilians remained in rebel territory, after an estimated 130,000 fled to other parts of Aleppo during the government advance.

More than 465 civilians, including 62 children, have died in east Aleppo during the assault, the Observatory said Wednesday in a new toll.

Another 142 civilians, among them 42 children, have been killed by rebel rocket fire on government-held zones in the same period, the monitor said.

Syria's conflict has evolved from anti-Assad protests into a multi-front war that has killed 310,000 and drawn in world powers on all sides of the war. 

Iranian officials on Wednesday hailed the "liberation" of Aleppo.

Yahya Safavi, top foreign policy adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said impending victory in Aleppo showed that "Iran is the leading power in the region."