Aleppo's mass evacuation is a 'political cleansing'

Evacuation or cleansing?  

Is the removal of tens of thousands of people from eastern Aleppo grounds for relief or one of the lowest moments in Syria's civil war?  

The UN says 25,000 people have been evacuated, the Turkish government puts the figure at over 35,000.

For some that will be enough to move on, a convenient line for the world's media to draw under the Syria story for now.

But there is no denying this has been the political cleansing of tens thousands of people, an event of mass transportation brokered by regional powers, Turkey and Iran, and caused by the direct military intervention of one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

In the 90s in the Balkans, entire areas were emptied or people fleeing the outrages carried out by rival forces. The obscene term "ethnic cleansing" was coined.

Image Caption:Empty buses head to Aleppo to pick up the final civilians to be evacuated

The cleansing of Aleppo has not been on the grounds of ethnicity, but on the grounds of people's politics or their suspected politics.

And it has certainly happened out of fear of outrages being committed by their own government and outside powers.

They have been terrified for two reasons.

Firstly, Russia's bombardment of eastern Aleppo, in concert with the warplanes of its Syrian allies, has meant the tens of thousands fleeing eastern Aleppo had no choice.  

They have had to escape before the inferno fuelled by Russia and the Assad regime consumed them.

Secondly, because every one of them has had plenty to fear from staying - even when the bombing stopped during the current ceasefire.

Video:Aleppo's Twitter-using child evacuated

The UN says there is credible evidence innocent men, women and children were taken out of their homes and shot on the spot as regime troops and the thugs of their militia allies moved in.

And everyone in eastern Aleppo has known they would fall under the suspicion of the regime and its allies simply because they have been living among rebel forces during the siege.

For that reason, no one could have been entirely confident of escaping the gulags and torture cells of the Assad regime when Aleppo fell.  

Since the uprising began thousands have been detained and tortured across Syria on the flimsiest of suspicions that they have helped others oppose the regime.   

Not ethnic cleansing but close enough.

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   A child waves from inside a bus as she is evacuated from rebel-held areas in Aleppo 
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And there are grounds for grave concern about what happens next.

The evacuated thousands are being transported to Idlib province, dominated by groups with extremist Jihadist connections.

When Russia and Syria turn their air power on them, the world will have more of an excuse to turn a blind eye.  

There are reports some of the fighters are being given safe passage into Turkey to re-enter Syria and join Operation Euphrates Shield, the Turkish-led offensive taking on Kurds in northern Syria.  

This is a new front that opened up earlier in the year because of Turkey's concerns about Kurds taking over land along its southern border.

The last thing Syrians need is another front in their civil war, and this now reportedly being bolstered because of the fall of Aleppo.

The civilians fleeing the city are also heading into Turkey.

Its increasingly autocratic government has used the threat of unleashing thousands more Syrian migrants on Europe as a means of extracting financial aid from the EU.  

The civilians of Aleppo are being added to the other refugees amassed in southern Turkey, giving its leader more leverage should he need it. 

SkyNews