Convoys have carried opposition fighters out of Aleppo in the final phase of an evacuation clearing the way for Syria's army to retake the city.

The evacuation effort has been hampered in recent days by heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures -- leaving evacuees waiting in unheated buses for hours -- but aid workers said it appeared to be reaching its end.

International Committee of the Red Cross says about 34,000 people have left the one-time opposition stronghold of east Aleppo since last Thursday, including all of the wounded and sick in critical condition.