A Reuters news agency journalist in Aleppo is reporting that explosions have been heard inside the city.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has meanwhile claimed that the West does not really care about civilians in Aleppo. 

"If we liberate Aleppo from terrorists, Western officials and mainstream media would be worried about civilians," he told Russia Today.

"They do not worry when the opposite happens, when terrorists kill those civilians or attack Palmyra and start destroying the human heritage, not only Syrian heritage." 

So-called Islamic State recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra over the weekend. The jihadist group demolished pre-Islamic temples and artefacts when it occupied the area between May 2015 and March 2016.

Earlier, the BBC's Newsday programme spoke to Fares Shehabi, an MP for Aleppo.  

He says more than 100,000 civilians have been "liberated" after being held hostage by "terrorists" for the past four years.

Image source, AFP

The BBC's Lyse Doucet, who is in Beirut, says the Syrian government is said to be demanding a simultaneous evacuation for their own injured fighters and civilians in the towns of Foah and Kefraya, in neighbouring Idlib province. 

This condition has been imposed in the past during similar negotiations to provide aid or pull out rebels at the end of long battles and punishing sieges, our correspondent adds. 

An estimated 12,500 people are trapped inside Foah and Kefraya, which have been besieged since March 2015 by rebels and jihadists from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, which was known as al-Nusra Front until it broke off formal ties with al-Qaeda this summer. 

Image source, Reuters

Our correspondent adds that the delayed evacuations from eastern Aleppo will prolong the agony for hundreds of very ill and injured people there. 

Aid agencies have been trying for weeks to arrange a rescue mission for them, as well as hundreds of children who were living under intense bombardment. 

Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the ceasefire agreed between Syria's government and rebel forces in the city of Aleppo. 

Just to bring you back up to date, the planned evacuation of rebel fighters and civilians has been delayed, and ambulances heading into the city have so far been turned back.

The government is said to be demanding the simultaneous evacuation of its own injured fighters and civilians from towns elsewhere in Syria that are besieged by rebels.

Image source, Reuters

We are going to pause our live coverage on the end of fighting in Aleppo - for a few hours.

Just to bring you up to date:

• Russia says all fighting has stopped in besieged areas of the Syrian city of Aleppo
• It had previously said a deal had been struck to move rebel fighters from the area they had held for four years
• It is not yet clear whether civilians will be able to leave under the deal
• The first evacuations of fighters are expected to begin at 05:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Wednesday

Here is our latest article rounding up Tuesday's events.

Zouhir al-Shimale, a journalist based in eastern Aleppo, tweets that injured people have begun to be moved ahead of their expected evacuation. 

A journalist with the pro-opposition Orient News TV channel, Mohammed al-Khattieb, also reports, external that the first batch of injured are being processed.

Last week, the UN warned that hundreds of urgent medical cases needed to be evacuated.

Our colleagues on Newshour on the BBC World Service have interviewed Fares Shehabi, an MP from Aleppo, who had some choice words for the outgoing UN Secretary-General.

Speaking to the UN Security Council, Syria's permanent representative denied that government forces had carried out any summary executions of civilians in eastern Aleppo before the ceasefire was agreed. 

However, Bashar al-Jaafari insisted that it was the government's "constitutional right" to go after "terrorists" - a term it has used to describe all armed opponents.

"Aleppo has been liberated from terrorists and those who toyed with terrorism,'' he added. "Aleppo has returned to the nation."

Ismail Alabdullah, a Syrian activist from Aleppo, tweets about leaving the rebel enclave.

The US permanent representative to the UN, Samantha Power, told, external the Security Council that Aleppo would "join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain our conscience decades later. Halabja, Rwanda, Srebrenica". 

She told the representatives of Syria, Russia and Iran that they should be ashamed of their countries' conduct in the conflict and bore responsibility for any atrocities committed there. 

"Three member states of the UN contributing to a noose around civilians. It should shame you. Instead, by all appearances, it is emboldening you. You are plotting your next assault. Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you?"

As the Syrian army closes in on the last remaining rebel fighters in Aleppo, the UN has said it has received detailed reports of massacres of unarmed civilians, allegedly by pro-government militias. Fares Shehabi, a member of Syria's parliament for Aleppo, said atrocities were only being committed by terrorist groups and the Syrian government was doing everything possible to protect civilians.

(Image: Syrian troops inside the destroyed Grand Umayyad mosque in the old city of Aleppo. Credit: AP)

Earlier, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told, external the Security Council that the UN stood ready to help implement the ceasefire agreement. 

"We remind all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law, to prioritise the safe passage of civilians out of eastern Aleppo and to ensure that those who have surrendered or been captured are treated humanely and in line with international law," he said. 

Mr Ban called on the Security Council to "do all we can to stop the carnage" and to help "find a sustainable solution to this wretched conflict". 

"Aleppo should represent the end of the quest for military victory, not the start of a broader military campaign in a country already ravaged beyond all recognition by five years of war," he added. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross has told the BBC that the details of the ceasefire agreement, as well as how it will be implemented, are still being discussed by various parties.

"Fundamentally, we hope it will materialise and - most importantly - that it will take into consideration the interests of the civilians," a spokesperson said. 

The UN has stressed that civilians should be allowed to leave along with rebel fighters and their families.

The Turkey advocacy manager for the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which supported several hospitals in rebel-held Aleppo, has tweeted this request:

Image source, Getty Images

The UK has provided more humanitarian assistance to refugees of the Syrian conflict than the rest of the EU combined, former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell tells the BBC.

It is now up to the UK, he says, to help assemble the strongest international coalition to ensure unfettered access for aid convoys to Aleppo.

As for the future of the country, he says he hopes President-elect Donald Trump, when he takes office, and President Putin might be able to "break the current logjam" given the "level of understanding" they seem to have.

There need to be talks on a future political settlement in Syria "without any pre-conditions" - although he believes it would be "impossible" for President Assad to remain in power indefinitely.

Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, told the Security Council earlier that rebel fighters were already being evacuated "through agreed corridors in directions that they have chosen voluntarily". 

However, there have so far been no signs of movement on the ground. AFP news agency journalists say a number of empty buses that will presumably be used in the evacuation are still parked in the government-controlled Salahuddin district, in south-western Aleppo.

Meanwhile, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek has tweeted that it will set up camps to accommodate the evacuees. 

It is worth noting that the UN estimates that there are up to 50,000 civilians still inside eastern Aleppo. 

Another 100,000 have crossed into government-controlled western Aleppo in the past month, according to Russia's defence ministry. However, it is not clear whether they will be allowed to travel to rebel-held territory elsewhere in Syria.

A Turkish government source tells the Reuters news agency that rebel fighters and their families, along with any civilians who wish to accompany them, will have until Wednesday night to leave eastern Aleppo by bus. 

The source says the rebels will be able to carry light weapons under the deal, which was negotiated by Turkey and Russia.

Raed al-Saleh is the head of the Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are known across the world as the White Helmets. He tweeted this after the ceasefire was announced:

Earlier, Raed al-Saleh wrote, external in Arabic that the "smell of death" was in the air around the besieged rebel enclave. He also described, external how bodies were littering the streets and others were buried in the rubble.