Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said the government is ready to negotiate on everything, including his position as president.

An operation to evacuate thousands of civilians and fighters from the last rebel enclave in Aleppo has been well underway, continuing throughout the day on Thursday.

Officials from both pro-Assad military alliance and Syrian rebels have confirmed a truce deal is back on, meaning evacuations would start ‘within hours’.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said the Syrian army has suspended active military operations in eastern Aleppo because a large civilian evacuation effort was underway, according to reports.

Syrian government forces have reportedly recaptured all of Aleppo’s historic ‘Old City’, pushing the last remaining rebels there out.

Syrian government forces and their allies have advanced into another rebel-held part of eastern Aleppo – according to an opposition official and the UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria’s army and its allies are tightening their grip on rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo.

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has revealed that he was offered aid by Saudi Arabia if he denounced Iran.

After several days of relative calm in Aleppo, Russian jets resumed heavy bombardment of rebel-held areas on Tuesday, according to a rebel official and a British-based monitoring group.

Syrian army offensive