Aleppo/Beirut — Heavy clashes including shelling and gunfire raged in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Wednesday after a truce deal meant to halt fighting between government forces and rebels stalled, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "The clashes are violent and bombardment is very heavy … it seems as though everything [the ceasefire] is finished," Rami Abdulrahman, director of the British-based monitoring group, said. Earlier reports said the evacuation of rebel-held eastern Aleppo was delayed on Wednesday and, while a war monitor said the reason was unclear, an opposition official blamed Shiite militias allied to President Bashar al-Assad for the hold up. A ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia, Assad’s most powerful ally, and Turkey was meant to have ended years of fighting in the city, giving Assad his biggest victory yet after more than five years of war. Officials in the military alliance fighting in support of Assad could not be reached immediately for comment on wh...
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