SYRIAN troops reported freeing tens of thousands more civilians from insurgent-occupied eastern Aleppo yesterday as the army continued to press forward.

Russian Defence Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said 80,000 civilians had been rescued so far this week, adding: “Those Syrians served as human shields in Aleppo for terrorists of all flavours.”

A Syrian government estimate of the number to have escaped the city was much smaller at 20,000.