Evacuation of wounded, civilians from Aleppo aborted

The evacuation of wounded and civilians from eastern Aleppo was aborted on Friday and aid agencies and vehicles were told to leave the area without explanation. The World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson said in Geneva: "I assume the message (to abort the operation) came from the Russians who are monitoring the area". The WHO team in eastern Aleppo had no contact with the Syrian authorities at the Ramouseh transit site. By 7 a.m., 194 evacuated patients had arrived in eight "overwhelmed" hospitals in government-held rural parts of western Aleppo, in Idlib and nearby Turkey.

AT least 6,000 civilians and rebels are said to have left Aleppo since the Syrian government regained most of the city Thursday, but the UN believes some 50,000 are still trapped there among them many women and infants.