Journalist breaks down reporting on a five-year-old injured in Aleppo

Footage purportedly shows child reciting verses from Quran during surgery without anaesthetic

A Turkish journalist broke down in tears on live television after watching a video of a child in Aleppo allegedly being operated on without anaesthetic.

The footage, purportedly filmed by a medic in a rebel-held part of the city, appears to show a five-year-old reciting verses from the Quran during surgery. It is unknown when the video was shot.

Newsreader Turgay Güler was overcome with emotion after the video was aired on the Ülke TV channel.

He can be seen holding his head in his hands and struggling to speak after viewing the report.

In November, The Independent revealed premature babies were being removed from their incubators after air strikes destroyed hospitals across the city.

Doctors Without Borders said more than 30 hospitals had been attacked in eastern Aleppo since early July and that medical supplies had been “depleted” with “no possibility of sending more supplies in”.

The United Nations has strongly condemned both Bashar al-Assad’s government and Russia for preventing supplies and medical equipment from reaching civilians trapped in the city.

Some 8,000 people, including 2,700 children, have been allowed to leave besieged rebel-held areas in the city’s east, but the evacuation was halted on Friday after reports a ceasefire, negotiated by Turkey and Russia, had broken down.

Journalists on the ground reported militias had been shooting at those trying to flee the city.

However, a new truce has now been agreed, with thousands more civilians and rebel fighters hoping to leave Aleppo and the surrounding areas.

The operation will also allow for the wounded to be evacuated from the rebel-held towns of Foua and Kefraya in Idlib province, and from two towns near the Lebanese border, Madaya and Zabadani.