Red Cross Moving Some Aid Workers from Syria to Beirut

The Red Cross said Friday it will pull some members of its humanitarian team out of conflict-ravaged Syria in the next few days.

"Some of the International Committee of the Red Cross team will move to Beirut in the next two days," said ICRC spokesman Hicham Hassan, adding that 50 international and local staff would remain in Damascus.

The Syrian capital is the only place where the Geneva-based humanitarian organization maintains a presence, while the Syrian Arab Red Crescent is mainly operational in the northern city of Aleppo.

Fears are mounting that the regime is planning a major offensive on Aleppo, Syria's biggest city where fighting between rebels and government troops is now in its ninth day.

World powers are warning of a possible massacre in the city and calling for maximum pressure on President Bashar Assad to prevent it.