Beirut
Brokered by Russia and Turkey, the pact began with a cease-fire that was supposed to be followed by evacuations at dawn, ending one of the most intense and bloody battles of the five-year civil war.
But by late morning on Wednesday, those terms already seemed defunct. “The clashes are violent, and bombardment is very heavy,” said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “It seems as though everything is finished.”
After a month-long offensive, government loyalists have surrounded the rebels in a tiny pinprick of territory of the strategic northern city. Hundreds of civilians have been killed. Many have been buried in shallow mass graves.
On Wednesday, large explosions echoed through audio recordings sent from the enclave. Airstrikes were also reported, after the skies cleared from a heavy storm that had brought respite to civilians trapped below.
And as news broke that the evacuation buses were returning to their depots, relief from the night before turned to confusion and despair.
“We want to leave … we don’t want more massacres, let us leave, what is happening,” wrote Yasser Hemeish, a former accountant, in a message to journalists.
A video shared on social media showed dozens of children huddled in a basement orphanage. Contacted by phone, the director, Asmar al-Halabi, paused as the sound of warplanes echoed over the phone. “Can you hear that?” he asked. “The children are downstairs — they are terrified.”
Rebel officials and a U.N. representative contacted by the Agence France-Presse news agency said the withdrawal deal had broken down after Iran — a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — imposed new conditions, saying it wanted the simultaneous evacuation of wounded from two villages besieged by opposition fighters.
Despite Russian and Turkish attempts to revive the deal, there were doubts over whether Iran or the Syrian government, whose cooperation will be needed, are ready to allow rebels to leave now that they are surrounded.
Violence on the ground may already have overtaken diplomacy.
In rejecting the Iranian demand, rebels shelled the villages on Wednesday in retaliation.
According to a local doctor, pro-government forces then responded by launching mortar attacks on the beleaguered town of Madaya, where residents have starved to death.
In Aleppo, a delayed deal and surge in fighting would deepen an already desperate crisis inside the remaining opposition-held districts. U.N. war crimes investigators said Wednesday that the Syrian government would be responsible for preventing revenge attacks by its troops or allied forces as they swept through what remained of the rebel area.