The number of refugees from the war-battered city of Aleppo being treated in Turkish hospitals has grown to 148, Turkey's Directorate General of Press and Information announced early yesterday.
The injured, particularly those in critical condition, have been transported to hospitals in Turkey's southern Hatay province. Among them, 58 people are children, the directorate said in a statement, adding that 13 have been discharged after treatment. Eight of the injured succumbed to their wounds.
Under a cease-fire agreement secured last week by Turkey and Russia, civilians trapped in eastern Aleppo have been allowed to go to Syria's opposition-held city of Idlib. Turkey has made intense diplomatic efforts to establish a cease-fire between the regime and the moderate opposition to allow the evacuation of civilians. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as well as Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu have held meetings with Russian and Iranian counterparts several times to keep open the diplomatic channels between the parties involved.
A total of 20,000 people have so far been evacuated from eastern Aleppo, Turkey's foreign minister announced Monday. The injured were allowed into Turkey via the Cilvegözu Border Crossing, and more are expected. Ambulances and medical teams are stationed at the border to help the injured.
Thousands of traumatized Syrians left the opposition enclave of Aleppo on Monday under a complex evacuation agreement that will see regime forces exert full control over the battered city. The operations resumed on Monday with around 5,000 people traveling out of Aleppo in 75 buses, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. These were the first departures since Friday, when the regime suspended evacuations, insisting on a tit-for-tat deal to allow civilians and opposition fighters to leave two northwestern villages under siege.
At stake is the fate of thousands of people still stuck in the last opposition bastion in Aleppo after a series of sudden advances by the regime forces and allied Iran-backed militias under an intense bombardment that pulverised large sections of the city. They have been waiting for the chance to leave Aleppo since the cease-fire and evacuation deal was agreed late last Tuesday, but have struggled to do so during days of delays. The weather in Aleppo has been wet and very cold and there is little shelter and few services in the tiny opposition zone.
