The Syrian army has retaken full control of the devastated city of Aleppo, it said on Thursday, scoring its biggest victory against opposition forces since the civil war erupted in 2011.
The announcement came after a landmark evacuation deal that ended a ferocious month-long offensive waged on east Aleppo by Syrian government forces and allied militia.
The operation ended a battle that lasted nearly four-and-a-half years and transformed the city into a worldwide symbol of bloodshed and devastation.
Thousands of inhabitants in the western part of the city — which had remained under the regime’s control throughout the conflict — took to the streets, chanting slogans and shouting their jubilation, despite extreme cold.
Cars crawled along, their drivers sounding their horns, and in city squares, children had the colors of the Syrian flag painted on their cheeks.
“Our joy is immense. Life returned to Aleppo today,” said lawyer Omar Halli, who predicted “victory over all of Syria.”
An army statement said the general command “announces the return of security to Aleppo after its release from terrorism and terrorists, and the departure of those who stayed there.”
A rebel official said the loss was a major blow for the revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
“On the political level, this is a great loss,” Yasser al-Youssef of the Nureddin al-Zinki rebel group told reporters. “For the revolution, it is a period of retreat and a difficult turning point.”
The army announcement came after state television said the last convoy of four buses carrying rebels and civilians had left east Aleppo and arrived in the government-controlled Ramussa district south of the city.
Earlier, the Red Cross said that more than 4,000 fighters had left rebel-held areas in the final stages of the evacuation.
The loss of east Aleppo is the biggest blow to Syria’s rebel movement in the nearly six-year conflict, which has killed more than 310,000 people.
It puts the government in control of the country’s five main cities: Aleppo, Homs, Hama, Damascus and Latakia.
However, rebels shelled Aleppo yesterday, killing three people, state television reported.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitor, said about 10 shells had fallen in al-Hamdaniya district in southwest Aleppo.
In the morning the army and its allies, including the Lebanese group Hezbollah, searched districts abandoned by the rebels to clear them of mines and other dangers, the Observatory reported.
State television showed footage of the al-Ansari district, including empty streets lined with apartment blocks smashed by airstrikes.
Syria’s conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011 and spiralled into a civil war after a government crackdown on dissent.
It has drawn in proxy powers and attracted foreign militants, but successive attempts to negotiate a political solution to the conflict have failed.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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