The journey out of Aleppo

Efforts to evacuate people from the rebel-held eastern areas of the besieged Syrian city finally got underway on Thursday as a fragile ceasefire held.

An evacuation attempt a day earlier failed amid renewed shellingand airstrikes before the ceasefire was re-established overnight.

A wounded boy sits inside an ambulance. At least one person was killed when Thursday's firstconvoy came under fire, according to arescueservice spokesman.

"We saw womenand small children on the buses and some men," said Elizabeth Hoff of the World Health Organization. "They were notfull. Everything went very smoothly. It was very calm."

A child waves from inside a bus evacuating a sector of eastern Aleppo.

The evacuations are part of an agreement between rebels and the Syrian government for the pullout from opposition-held neighbourhoods of fighters and civilians in what is effectively Aleppo's surrender to the government.

It's not clear how many people are being moved.The International Committee of the Red Cross said via Twitter the operation would bring out some 200 wounded, while Russia told the United Nations it would be more than 1,000.

An elderly Syrian man is carried during the evacuation of eastern Aleppo.

A Syrian man cries during the evacuation operation of rebel fighters and their families from rebel-held neighbourhoods.

An ambulance leads the way out of theal-Amiriyahneighbourhood.

Residents in a government-held part of Aleppo's Salaheddin neighbourhood couldbe seen in their bombed-out homesas buses evacuated rebel fighters and their families.

A Syrian manarrives in the opposition-controlled Khan al-Aassal region, west of Aleppo, the first stop for evacuees.

Syrians arriving in Khan al-Aassalwill be met by members humanitarian groupswho will transport the civilians to temporary camps on the outskirts ofIdliband the wounded to field hospitals.

A rebel fighter carries bread for evacuees from east Aleppoupon their arrival to the town of al-Rashideen, which is held by insurgents.