The United States on Tuesday called for international observers to be sent to Aleppo to oversee the evacuation of civilians following reports that Syrian forces had executed people during house-to-house searches.

US Ambassador Samantha Power told an emergency Security Council meeting that the observers would "oversee the safe evacuation of the people who wish to leave but who, justifiably fear that if they try, they will be shot in the street or carted off to one of Assad's gulags."