Why is Aleppo being evacuated, how many children have been rescued, where is the Syrian city and why has it been bombed?
SEVERAL thousand people have now left war-torn Aleppo raising hope for many others still stranded.
They were the first departures since Friday when the government suspended evacuations and came as Russia eased its objections to sending UN observers to oversee the move.
Where is Aleppo?
It is a city in north west Syria with a population of about 2.3million before the troubles.
Aleppo was named a Unesco World Heritage site because of its importance to the world's culture and history of the Middle East.
It was once Syria's largest city.
Why is Aleppo being evacuated?
Syria has been embroiled in a civil war for more than five years.
United Nation estimates that between 250,000 to 270,000 people have died during the fighting but one group says the number is closer to 470,000.
The fighting, which broke out in March 2011 in Deraa, spread to Aleppo in 2012 and has been constant ever since.
This week a ceasefire deal was agreed between the Syrian government forces and rebels fighting to keep control of their territory.
It will allow the evacuation of people trapped in eastern Aleppo and Syria's regime to take control of the city.
Convoys carrying more than 3,000 people crossed the front line headed for rebel-held territory elsewhere in northern Syria, after around 350 people got out during the night.
How many children have been rescued from Aleppo?
Some 50,000 are waiting to be rescued from the eastern part of the city.
About 8,000 people have left since Thursday (December 15) and there were up to 250,000 civilians - 100,000 of them children - trapped in east Aleppo when it came under siege.
On Friday, December 16 the evacuations were reportedly suspended.
Why has Aleppo been bombed?
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops are fighting a group known as the rebels who are trying to overthrow Assad's government.
Rebel forces have been based in the eastern half of the city and government forces in the west.
The evacuation comes after a month after President Assad's forces launched a major Russian-backed offensive to retake all of Aleppo.
On September 22, two weeks after encircling the east of the city, government troops launched an all-out offensive to take control of the entire city.
The army has recaptured "99 per cent" of Syria’s second city in recent weeks and a UK-monitoring group opposed to the regime said the rebels had withdrawn from the last six neighbourhoods they held.
President Assad said the "liberation" of Aleppo was "history in the making".
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