Syria, Russia and Turkey have declared that a ceasefire will come into effect at midnight on Thursday in Syria – but it won’t include Islamic state or a group which once had links to al-Qaida.

Snow is falling in Syria, hiding the scars of war as the last refugees are evacuated from Aleppo after a day of waiting in the freezing cold because of delays.

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

Leaflets dropped over rebel-held parts of the Syrian city of Aleppo urged people to take their chance to get out, as a so-called ‘humanitarian pause’ in air strikes formally came into effect on Thursday.

Just hours before he meets the leaders of Russia and Germany, French President Francois Hollande said on Wednesday that he’s urgently trying to extend an eleven hour ceasefire planned for tomorrow in Aleppo.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has agreed a ceasefire extension with Farc rebels to last until the end of the year.

The UN says large amounts of humanitarian aid have still not entered Syria three days after a nationwide ceasefire came into affect.

A nationwide ceasefire agreement in Syria brokered by Russia and the United States has come into effect. It is the second attempt this year by Moscow and Washington to halt the five-year-long civil war.

The United Nations is calling for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire to be established in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

It is a ceasefire in all but name, the Syrian military’s declaration of a 72-hour “regime of calm”, coinciding with the end of Ramadan, that began at one o’clock on Wednesday morning, and will end at midnight on Friday.