The evacuations from rebel-held areas of Aleppo had been suspended on Friday, a day after convoys of people had begun leaving the rebel sector under a deal allowing the regime to take full control of the battleground city. Photo: Al Jazeera

The UN official told Reuters news agency that 50 buses and two ambulances had left the rebel zone, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 65 buses had left carrying about 3,500 people.

Earlier, Dr Ahmad Dbis, who heads a team of doctors and volunteers coordinating evacuations from Aleppo, told AFP news agency that about 1,200 people, including women and children, had arrived at the staging ground west of Aleppo.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said an estimated 500 people had been evacuated from two villages besieged by rebels in Idlib province on Monday.

SOHR said 10 buses had left the besieged Shia villages of Fouaa and Kefraya carrying evacuees through rebel-held territory towards Aleppo..

The evacuations from rebel-held areas of Aleppo had been suspended on Friday, a day after convoys of people had begun leaving the rebel sector under a deal allowing the regime to take full control of the battleground city.

The main obstacle to a resumption had been a dispute over how many people would be evacuated in parallel from Fouaa and Kefraya, under rebel siege in northwestern Syria.

But just as a deal to go ahead with the evacuations was reached and announced by both sides, gunmen attacked buses sent to take people out of Fouaa and Kefraya and torched them, killing a bus driver, SOHR said.

The evacuation process in Aleppo got off to a shaky start last week, with agreements collapsing and four people reportedly killed by government-allied forces as they attempted to leave eastern Aleppo.

Reports said ambulances and buses were able to enter Fouaa and Kefraya late on Sunday after being prevented from entering for hours.

SOHR said the evacuation operation would involve about 4,000 people, including patients, orphans and families.