i'm brent goff, good to have you with us. the syrian forces are claiming another victory in the battle for aleppo. backed by russian air cover, troops seized control of the old city today. western powers and rebel groups are calling now for an immediate five day cease-fire to allow civilians to evacuate the city. tonight, in the german city of hamburg, talking about the next phase for aleppo. >> the russian armies explosives experts move in and are looking for unexploded bombs and homemade explosives. in an area that just a short time ago was under opposition control. we are going to hand these explosives on for examination, the soldier explains so that people know what these terrorists, as he calls them, are capable of. civilians will be able to leave the conflict zone. these show the area under rebel control trying to get to areas controlled by the syrian government. lacks the syrian government had opened escape corridor doors, says this woman, just pulled out by the syrian army. but the rebels didn't want to let us go. at

brent: i am brent goff. it's good to have you with us. tonight they are finally leaving. another group of evacuees has made it out of aleppo and into rebel-held territory beyond the city. in total, over 1000 people escaped the city today under the terms of our fragile cease-fire. and and buses carried wounded -- and and buses carried wounded civilians and fighters to relative safety. reporter: and balances -- ambulances and buses arriving in aleppo's western countryside from a sign of the fragile cease-fire deal finally holding after collapsing on wednesday amid fresh writing. earlier, the slow-moving convoy of around 2000 vehicles, with 1000 on board, snaked out of eastern aleppo. it passed through a government-held area before reaching a rebel-held region. with the retreat of the rebels, president bashar al-assad has declared liberation of aleppo from the opposition. in a message posted on social media, assad described the rebel defeat as history in the making and a key turning point in the conflict. the syrian government claims it is fulfilling its part of the evacuati

. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. no one is leaving aleppo, at least not at this hour. evacuation of people from rebel held areas has come to a halt, a day after it began. both sides, accusing each other of breaking the terms of a cease-fire and the attack on the convoys. an estimated 8000 to 10,000 people have been taken out of aleppo so far. >> explosions can be heard in the background. the syrian government says it is rebels attacking a convoy of evacuees with the intent of taking hostages, but the rebels accuse syrian government forces of firing at convoys. while these evacuees will now not treatment, the fate of thousands in east aleppo still hangs in the balance. >> they are wounded, on the street, burning the plastic, trying to get some kind of, some sort of heat. it is really, really freezing. yes, definitely i could see hundreds of people, if not thousands, waiting to be evacuated. reporter: for those evacuated, these are emotional times. having witnessed the horrors of war in their backyard, they finally have a reason to chill, reunion with a loved one in a sa

. ♪ brent: i am brent goff, it is good to have you with us.e again the united nations security council will try to react to the tragedy that is known as aleppo. tens of thousands of civilians are pouring out of eastern aleppo as government forces push to recapture the syrian city. a syrian military source says the government has retaken the district, a claim rejected tonight by rebel fighters. reporter: aleppo is still under heavy fire. syrian fighter planes are bombing eastern parts of the city continuously. on the ground, syrian troops are pushing further into rebel-held areas. the rebels are putting up a tough fight but it is looking increasingly hopeless for them. they have lost more than one third of their territory in just a few days. now the rebel-held art of the city is being split into -- in two. one area in the south and one in the north controlled by syrian kurds. for civilians, the situation is catastrophic. food and medical supplies are running out and nowhere is safe. tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their hom

brent: i am brent goff. good to have you with us. rebels in aleppo have agreed on a deal to withdraw from the city and evacuate the people the civilians trapped inside. that is after the syrian military always crushed resistance there in the last 48 hours. residents are now fleeing in their thousands as government forces retake control of the last pockets of formerly held areas by the rebels. the military offensive in the city is all but over, having left east aleppo in total rooms. -- ruins. reporter: these could be scenes from the devastated cities of europe during world war ii. but this is today, and this is aleppo. official evacuations hadn't even started yet when these images were filmed. an all too brief breath of calm in the storm of violence that has wracked to the city for weeks. the evacuation order applies to civilians and rebel fighters. thousands have already fledd their homes. >> in this situation, stitill vy babad. a woman -- [indiscernible] everyone in aleppo city iss depependent on russia and dertment to o protect th

. ♪ i am brent goff. tonight, there is a cease-fire in aleppo. russian foreign minister says the syrian army has stopped active military operations in the eastern part of the city to let the civilians evacuated. he also said russian and u.s. military experts will meet in geneva on saturday to discuss the situation in syria's second-largest city. rebels in eastern aleppo have suffered a wave of defeat, thousands of civilians remain trapped tonight. our next report is from a.r.d. reporter: they want to get out of the hell that is eastern aleppo. only a few relatively safe routes lead to the city. the syrian army has led a bombing campaign to force opposition and rebel groups out of their strongholds. the assad regime has allowed us to report from here. we can move around relatively freely. in the area's government troops have recaptured, some families have begun returning to their homes. or rather, what is left of them. his house was destroyed. the family is ruined. he says life and aleppo was terrible. bombs, hunger, and islamists dictated their d

brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. she is one step further to becoming chancellor yet again. angela merkel has been overwhelmingly reelected as leader of her party, the conservative christian democrats, the cdu. she took 90% of the votes cast today at the annual conference. it gives her a boost as she seeks a fourth term as chancellor in federal elections scheduled for next fall. reporter: she did it again. germany's christian democrats reelected angela merkel as the party's leader. "i accept your choice and i am pleased with the result. my heartfelt thanks for your trust." her speech was marked by self-criticism and pathos. merkel knows she demanded a lot of her party, and she warned the struggle is not over yet. "i cannot promise that things are going to get easier, because we must do with these times demand of us." she was referring to her government's controversial refugee policy, which many interparty question. she says last year's migration crisis must not be allowed to repeat itself, and she reached after critic