LIVE: Aleppo evacuations
- Turkish NGO confirms 3,000 evacuated from eastern Aleppo
- Emergency Security Council meeting to negotiate UN observers in Aleppo
- Thousands await evacuation in freezing temperatures
- Civilian and rebels being moved to Idlib and west Aleppo countryside
- Medics in Idlib tell MEE ready to help but heavily under-equipped
Live Updates
Medical personnel in the besieged areas of east Aleppo could be tortured or killed by pro-Assad forces for treating rebel fighters and civilians, according to a Guardian report on Tuesday.
“Doctors have been targeted since the beginning of the crisis for doing their medical duty. Those who chose to stay in Aleppo, the heart of the opposition, are at severe risk in government areas,” said Dr Zaher Sahloul, a doctor who has worked in Aleppo and is the former president of the Syrian American Medical Society.
“Many of the doctors refused to leave when they could, because they said, ‘Who will take care of the civilians if we leave,'” he said. “Now we have tried to work with the Russian, US and Turkish governments to see if they can be evacuated with the injured to other rebel-held areas, where they will feel safe.”
Dozens of Syrian and Arab expatriates gathered in Geneva on Tuesday to show solidarity with Aleppo, chanting an early song from the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
The evacuation of civilians and rebels from remaining opposition-held territory in east Aleppo was delayed by several hours on Wednesday morning and followed by a breaking of the ceasefire by pro-Assad forces.
Implementation of the deal, brokered by Russia and Turkey, was expected to begin at about 5am local time, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and sources on the ground said.
