68 Daesh fighters killed near Syria’s Al-Bab

Aleppo — Syrian troops strengthened their hold over Aleppo on Friday after retaking full control of the city, as residents anxious to return to their homes moved through its ruined streets. The army announced on Thursday it had recaptured the former rebel stronghold of east Aleppo following a landmark evacuation deal that saw thousands of opposition fighters and residents leave the city. Braving the cold, war-weary residents crossed districts that had become dangerous front lines, eager to return to neighborhoods they had not seen in years. Civilians wrapped in coats trekked through the cold, some rolling their belongings on wheelbarrows. “I came to check on my house, which I haven’t seen in five years,” resident Khaled al-Masri said. “I really hope my home wasn’t badly damaged.” The evacuation operation ended more than four years of fierce fighting in Aleppo, which had been divided between government forces in the west and rebels in the east since 2012. Later Friday, air raids targeting rebel territory to the west of the city killed three fighters, the Britain-based monitor said. And near the ancient city of Palmyra, the Daesh group killed 27 Syrian soldiers and allied militiamen in a series of attacks, the Observatory said. The evacuation agreement was brokered by rebel backer Turkey and regime supporter Russia. The Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed an order to expand Russia’s naval facility in the Syrian city of Tartus, while Russian military police had been dispatched to recaptured parts of Aleppo. “We sent in a battalion of military police yesterday evening to maintain order in the liberated territories,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. On Friday morning, government fighters moved into Ansari, Al-Mashhad, and other neighborhoods they had not entered since mid-2012. They searched for improvised explosive devices and mines, clearing buildings to prepare the way for civilians to return, the Observatory said. As they finished sweeping through the main streets, soldiers moved into the smaller alleyways to check for bombs, an AFP correspondent in one district said. — AFP