Syria war: Blast hits evacuee bus convoy near Aleppo

    A blast has hit a convoy of coaches carrying evacuees from government-held towns near the Syrian city of Aleppo.

   Thousands of people from both sides of Syria's civil war have been stuck in hostile territory since Friday after a mutual evacuation deal stalled.
   Under the "Four Towns" deal, some 30,000 besieged people would be taken out of two rebel-held towns and two under government control.
   But up to 5,000 government evacuees and 2,200 from rebel towns are stranded.
   Rebels say Damascus breached the terms of the deal brokered by Iran and Qatar.
   They accuse the government of trying to bring out more loyalist fighters from the north-western towns of Foah and Kefraya than agreed.
   A previous attempt at mutual evacuations failed in December when rebels burnt coaches due to be sent to the towns.
   Last month, the UN described the situation there, and in the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, as "catastrophic", with more than 64,000 civilians "trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation".


BBC