ALEPPO – Tens of thousands of civilians evacuated from besieged Aleppo after months of stiff attacks by Syrian government forces and their allied militias that left the city destroyed.

There were up to 250,000 civilians – 100,000 of them children – trapped in east Aleppo when it came under siege. Many of them fled into government-held west Aleppo last week as airstrikes intensified, but there are still thought to be tens of thousands awaiting evacuation.

The Turkish Red Crescent is preparing a camp in Idlib province that could host up to 80,000 people, an official from the group told Reuters. That would exceed an exodus at the start of the year, when aid agencies scrambled to shelter and feed 70,000 people fleeing fighting near Aleppo.

Video curtsy: AMC (Aleppo Media Center)