December 19, 2016 - 15:32 AMT
Evacuations pick up pace in Aleppo and rebel-held villages

Evacuations of areas under siege in northern Syria are picking up pace, with people in some rebel-held zones now being allowed to leave, BBC News said.

Evacuation of the last rebel enclaves in eastern Aleppo surrounded by Syrian forces restarted late on Sunday, December 18.

Among those to have left is seven-year-old Bana Alabed, who had tweeted about conditions in the city.

A linked evacuation of government-held parts of Idlib province being besieged by rebels started early on Monday.

While civilians are being moved to safety in Syria, the UN Security Council is to discuss sending monitors to oversee the mass evacuations. There are hopes that countries divided on Syria's fate will come to a rare agreement on the crisis.