VIDEO: Civilians Evacuated from Eastern Aleppo

While they waited for buses to transport them to safe areas some civilians described the hardships they faced as they lived under siege.

The Russian-backed Syrian army launched its offensive late last week and the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that Syrian government troops have taken control over nearly half of the rebel-held city.

Russia’s state TV channel, RTR, claims that more than 2,500 people, including over 800 children have been transported to safer areas over the past few days, fleeing the war-torn eastern areas of the city through humanitarian corridors.

Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and former commercial center, has been contested since the summer of 2012 and a rebel defeat in the city would be a turning point in the five-year conflict.