In pics: After over four years of fighting, battle for Aleppo comes to an end

The Syrian army said on Thursday that it had retaken complete control of Aleppo after the last rebel fighters were evacuated from the city, handing President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory of the war.

The Syrian army said on Thursday that it had retaken complete control of Aleppo after the last rebel fighters were evacuated from the city, handing President Bashar al-Assad his biggest victory of the war.

Syrian rebel fighters, are evacuated from Aleppo towards rebel-held territory. (AFP Photo/Youssef Karwashan)

The army said it had brought “security and safety” to Aleppo, ending four years of rebel resistance in parts of the northern Syrian city.

The last group of rebels and their families holed up in a small eastern enclave were evacuated on Thursday, under a deal that gives the army and its allies full control of the city after years of fighting, Syrian state television said.

Syrians, who left the last rebel-held pockets of Syria's northen city of Aleppo, arrive on December 22, 2016 in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Assal region, west of the embattled city.

A rebel fighter walks carrying a bag at insurgent-held al-Rashideen in Aleppo. (Reuters/Ammar Abdullah)

At least 34,000 people, both civilians and fighters, have been evacuated from east Aleppo in a week-long operation hampered by severe winter weather, the latest UN figures show. But the United Nations estimates that thousands more remain.

A man walks on the rubble of damaged buildings after an airstrike on the rebel held al-Qaterji neighbourhood of Aleppo. (Reuters/Abdalrhman Ismail)

The last evacuees left a tiny pocket that was all that remained of a rebel sector that covered nearly half the city before being besieged in the summer and hit by intense air strikes that reduced swathes of it to rubble. As the months of bombardment wore on, rescue and health services collapsed.

Syrian rebel fighters, arrive in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Assal region.

Last fight

Fighters and civilians were evacuated overnight and on Thursday from east Aleppo to opposition-held areas under an agreement between the warring sides, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

A member of forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stands in front of Aleppo's historic citadel.

“Most are heading towards camps, or to their relatives, or shelter locations,” said Ahmad al-Dbis, a medical aid worker heading a team evacuating patients from Aleppo. “The humanitarian situation in northern Syria is very difficult, because the area is already densely populated since it has people displaced from all over Syria.”

Those leaving Aleppo were not only going to Idlib, a city and province southwest of Aleppo, but to villages in the countryside in Aleppo province that lies west and north of the city and has also been heavily bombed.

Hundreds of other people were also evacuated from two villages besieged by rebels near Idlib and taken to government lines in Aleppo, part of the deal that has allowed insurgents to withdraw from the city carrying light weapons.

A rebel official said a heavy snow storm that hit northern Syria and the sheer numbers involved had delayed the evacuation.

Syrian rebels being evacuated from Aleppo drive through a rebel-held territory near Rashidin.

“The numbers of civilians, their cars alongside and of course the weather all are making the evacuation slow,” Munir al-Sayal, head of the political wing of Ahrar al Sham, said.