Red Cross urges all sides in Aleppo to resume evacuation

A man pushes a cart with a woman lying on it as vehicles wait to evacuate people from a rebel-held sector of eastern Aleppo, Syria December 15, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Comimttee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a leading agency in the evacuation of the wounded and civilians from east Aleppo, called on all sides on Friday to resume the operation, which was suspended hours earlier. "Regretfully the operation was put on hold. We urge the parties to ensure it can be relaunched & proceed in the right conditions," Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Near and Middle East, said in a tweet giving no further details. Some 3,000 civilians and more than 40 wounded people, including children, were evacuated from east Aleppo on Thursday in two evacuations, the ICRC said in a statement. Mardini told Reuters on Thursday that "many more" rotations of buses and ambulances would be needed in coming days. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Hugh Lawson)