“We want to send relief to the Syrians that is supported by the Malaysian people,” said Aman Palestine’s Save Aleppo solidarity gathering organiser, Mohammad Faizal Mohd Safri.

Mohammad Faizal said the organisation would seek donations from members of the public, hoping to gather up to RM1 million to help the victims of bombings in Syria.

“We have already achieved one of our objectives, which is to send a memorandum to complain and condemn various attacks launched against the Syrians by the Russians.

“We call on those who have the power to change to support this cause and change everything,” he said.

A Syrian, Mohammad Shalati, who has been working in Malaysia for four years in the property industry, wants to travel back to his home in Damascus to see his family and friends but he cannot do so.

“I’m at the age where the government would want me to be in the army, but I don’t want to kill my people,” he said.

The Save Aleppo solidarity gathering organised by Aman Palestin was held opposite the Russian Embassy of Federation on Jalan Ampang, from 2.30pm to 3pm today.

Six busloads of protesters took part in the demonstration and they demanded that the Russian authorities to stop the bombings in Syria.

Aman Palestin said that it would also like to collaborate with other organisations, regardless of religion or race, in the future to highlight the matter.

Evacuation from eastern Aleppo halted

Meanwhile, dpa reported from Beirut tonight that the evacuation of civilians and rebel fighters from the last opposition-held enclave in eastern Aleppo came to a halt after the deal hit a snag today, a day after the operation started under a Russian-Turkish deal.

A convoy carrying 900 rebels with their families returned to eastern Aleppo after the evacuation was suspended, a Syrian military official said without giving details.

A Syrian lawmaker said the operation was halted after a dispute about evacuating people from two pro-government villages besieged by rebels in the north-western province of Idlib.

"The operation has been suspended because of Foua and Kefraya. The insurgents are not letting people out from there," lawmaker Feras Shehabi told dpa, referring to the two villages.

An opposition source said that evacuation from eastern Aleppo would resume once the sick and wounded as well as their families depart from Foua and Kefraya.

An estimated 20,000 people, including 7,000 children, are believed to be living in the two villages.