Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published Monday that he was prepared "to negotiate everything" at planned peace talks later this month, seeking to cast himself as a peacemaker.

The last group of rebels and their families holed up in a small enclave in Aleppo were evacuated on Thursday, under a deal that gives the army and its allies full control of the city after years of fighting.

Syrian rebels resumed their evacuation from Aleppo on Wednesday, paving the way for the government to reassume control of the war-torn city.