Moscow (AFP) – Russia’s defence ministry on Friday announced it has finished evacuating rebels and their family members from Syria’s Aleppo, with only “radical and intransigent” militants left inside.

“The (Russian) operation… to evacuate rebels and members of their families from eastern districts of Aleppo is complete,” it said in a statement. “Militant groups of radical and intransigent gangs who are shooting at Syrian troops are left in some neighbourhoods.”