UN chief calls on relevant parties to ensure safety and security of civilians

DAMASCUS - The international community has denounced a deadly car bombing that killed 126 people of a convoy of Shiite evacuees in northern Syria.

Saturday's attack, carried out by a suicide bomber driving a booby-trapped potato truck, rocked the rebel-held Rashideen area in the countryside of Aleppo province, where buses carrying 5,000 pro-government Shiites were waiting for the reactivation of a deal designed to secure their transportation to the government-controlled area in Aleppo.

The dead included 109 evacuees from the towns of Foah and Kefraya in the province of Idlib. The rest were aid workers and rebels guarding the convoy.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

On Sunday, residents and local officials in government-controlled Aleppo held a massive rally protesting the bombing, Syria's state news agency reported.

The participants condemned "this terrorist and cowardly deed".

The United Nations on Saturday condemned the deadly attack and called on all parties to protect the evacuees.

"We call on all parties to ensure the safety and security of those waiting to be evacuated," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"Those responsible for today's attack must be brought to justice," he said.

The United States on Sunday strongly condemned the "barbaric" attacks.

"We deplore any act that sustains and empowers extremists on all sides including today's attacks, as well as forced migration, increased displacement, and all forms of violence directed against civilians in Syria," said Mark Toner, spokesman of US State Department.

Call for peace

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed strong condemnation of "the criminal terrorist act".

"Iraq also calls on the international community to make this horrible crime ... enough reason to show seriousness in solving the Syrian crisis peacefully and away from the pursuit of some countries to achieve their political interests," the ministry said in a statement.

The recently reached deal between the rebels and the Syrian government under the supervision of Iran, Turkey and Qatar was designed to secure the evacuation of people from the pro-government Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foah in Idlib province toward government areas in Aleppo.

In return, the government will allow rebels and their families to leave the rebel-held towns of Madaya and Zabadani in northern Damascus to reach Idlib province.

The evacuation started on Friday, with 5,000 Shiites leaving Kafaraya and Foah, and 2,300 rebels and their families leaving the town of Madaya.

The Shiites have reached the rebel-held town of Rashideen, while the rebels have reached the government-controlled Ramouseh crossing in Aleppo.

Both convoys were set to leave for their respective destinations, before the rebels in Rashideen held up the convoy of the Shiites, adding new demands to the original deal.

But after the bombing, the rebels succumbed to the pressure of their regional backers and allowed the buses to proceed to the government-controlled Aleppo city, thus marking the implementation of the first part of the deal.

Still, around 3,000 people are in the Shiite towns waiting their turn to be evacuated. Once they are out, both towns will be completely emptied of their populations, and the rebels will take over, after besieging the towns for years.

The UN said in February that around 4.7 million people live in hard-to-reach locations across the war-torn country, including more than 640,000 in besieged locations.