Aleppo Evacuation 2016 Live Updates: Ceasefire Begins As Civilians Leave City Under Siege

UPDATED: 12:34 p.m. EST — Nearly 50 Syrian orphans have recorded a video that serves as a plea for help for the children who were still in Aleppo, CNN reported.

"This might be the last day you will hear my voice and see me. Please get us out," said Yasmeen Qanouz, the 10-year-old girl whose voice can be heard on the video. "We want to live like everyone else. There are 47 children here and they are all my brothers and sisters. We all hope to get out of Aleppo and eat and drink."

UPDATED: 12:08 p.m. EST — Europe and the European Union need to go beyond just issuing statements about the civil war violence in eastern Aleppo in order to instate a successful ceasefire, a local official told Reuters Thursday.

"We are not waiting for press communiques and declarations, or meetings for the organization of other meetings," said Brita Hagi Hassan, who leads the Aleppo city council. "We want action."

UPDATED: 11:23 a.m. EST — France would like to be briefed on how the evacuation of Aleppo is faring so that it may deliver aid to those still in need in the Syrian city. The European country has appealed to the United Nations Security Council for the briefings, French diplomats told Reuters.

Original story:

The first convoy of civilians evacuating eastern Aleppo have arrived in Idlib, a northwestern city in Syria where forces opposing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad were in control. The evacuation began Thursday morning local time after a ceasefire was enacted and then delayed Wednesday before being put back in effect one day later.

Nearly 1,000 people left Aleppo in the first convoy. Priority was given to those who have been injured in the violence across the city of Aleppo, especially the eastern part.

Meanwhile, Assad seemed to proclaim victory when he said "history is being made" by defeating the opposition forces, the Associated Press reported.

The entire evacuation was expected to last no more than three days. While the World Health Organization said the evacuation was going "smoothly," those comments came hours after at least one person died and many others injured when a group of injured evacuees was attacked Thursday morning just as the evacuation got underway. The violence reportedly took place because militants were not aware the ceasefire had taken effect.

Buses and trucks as well as emergency vehicles like ambulances were all involved in the evacuation of various Aleppo villages, including Al-Foua and Kefraya, Reuters reported.

Tens of thousands of Syrians have been killed and nearly 11 million displaced after five and a half years of war. Part of the Arab Spring movement, the conflict began as a peaceful protest against the Syrian government but soon descended into civil war, which has since spiraled into war with other countries, including the United States, being involved.

Aleppo, once Syria’s industrial and financial center, was largely untouched by the 2011 protests but became an important battleground in 2012 when rebel forces launched an attack on the government. The result divided Syria’s largest city in two, with the eastern portion of the city under rebel control and the west under Assad.

In 2016, pro-government forces backed by Russian airstrikes launched an offensive to retake the entire city. The besieged eastern Aleppo was continuously bombarded with airstrikes that destroyed majority of its hospitals and prevented the delivery of humanitarian aid while its civilians were trapped with dwindling food, water and medical supplies.