- Evacuating 29 People Out Of 500 Critical Cases From Eastern Ghouta

- Aid workers completed a series of medical evacuations from a besieged opposition enclave near Damascus Friday as part of a controversial deal that saw patients swapped for hostages and prisoners.

The patients were among a list of cases considered critical who were evacuated since Tuesday night from Eastern Ghouta, an area where the humanitarian crisis has escalated in recent months.

"Thirteen civilians, including six children and four women, were evacuated" during the night of Thursday to Friday, a health official in Eastern Ghouta told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The latest batch of patients the Syrian Red Crescent evacuated brought to 29 the number of civilians who were able to leave the area, which has been virtually cut off from the outside for four years.

The 29, 17 of them children, were deemed the most pressing cases on a list of around 500 people the United Nations said last month could die if they did not receive urgent assistance outside the besieged enclave.

Source: Daily Sabah