Camp for Aleppo evacuees to be set up in Syria, Turkey taking in wounded

A camp to host people evacuated from Syria's Aleppo will be set up inside Syria near the border, senior Turkish officials said on Friday, and Turkey will continue to accept sick and wounded coming from the city.

Two potential sites, around 3.5 km inside Syria, have been identified to set up a camp, which will have the capacity to host up to 80,000 people, officials said, adding that they expected around 30,000 to 35,000 people to come.

Evacuations of rebel fighters and civilians including wounded from the last rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo have gathered pace, with a Turkish official saying close to 8,000 civilians have left the city.

Turkey was making efforts to increase the number of buses used for the evacuation to speed up the process. Russia has been providing road security for the convoys and they have not suffered any fresh attacks, officials said.

European leaders also promised to send food and medicine to people trapped in the devastated city of Aleppo, with France's president calling for a Un resolution to support the European Union (EU) response that Russia could not refuse.

EU aid trucks have been waiting to go into the rebel strongholds of eastern Aleppo since early October and are Europe's only tangible assistance in a conflict that has left it marginalised, unable to agree sanctions to pressure Moscow.