CIVILIANS poured out of insurgent-occupied east Aleppo yesterday, with more than 10,000 taking advantage of a brief Russian-brokered ceasefire to escape the clutches of the area’s jihadist defenders.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced the humanitarian pause late on Thursday in the German city of Hamburg, where he had earlier met his US counterpart John Kerry.

With the crucial battle of Aleppo almost won by Syrian government forces, Mr Lavrov said peace talks would resume in Geneva tomorrow.

By yesterday morning, some 8,400 civilians had left the remaining extremist-controlled districts, which have been reduced to a sixth of their former extent after two weeks of rapid army advances.

In the afternoon, another 4,000 made it out, bringing the total to 10,500, including 4,015 children. The refugees were taken to a temporary camp in Jibrin.

But the official Sana news agency said the “terrorists” were still holding “hundreds of families” hostage in the districts of al-Sukari, al-Ansari, al-Firdous and parts of Salah Eddien and Sheikh Saeed.

Some 30 militants surrendered and took advantage of a government amnesty offer

Russian Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi said that, since the start of the current offensive, “1,096 militants have left Aleppo voluntarily, 953 of them have been amnestied.”

He said the operation was ongoing, with the government now in control of 93 per cent of the city.

In a statement circulated yesterday, the Syrian Communist Party (Unified) called the ongoing war in the country “one of most barbarous imperialist aggressions of the age since World War II.”

The party said: “Terrorists who carry out this attack on Syria come from more than 80 countries, supported by the imperial powers of the world and their allies,” including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.

“The aggressors are the only side who carry the full responsibility for the losses and damages in the country.”

Meanwhile, the invading Turkish army sent another 300 commandos to northern Aleppo province, where they have stepped up attempts to capture the town of al-Bab from the Isis death cult before the Syrian army can turn its attention there.

Further south, Isis terrorists threatened to surround the city of Tadmur, where the ancient Roman ruins of Palmyra are located, in a pincer movement.

The Coventry-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has contacts with terrorist groups, said Isis claimed to have killed 49 Syrian troops in the previous 24 hours.