Hundreds missing from east Aleppo
UN says rebels are stopping residents from leaving
GENEVA // The United Nations’ human rights office is concerned for the fate of hundreds of men who may have gone missing after crossing from rebel- held eastern Aleppo into government-controlled areas of the city.
There were also reports of armed groups in rebel-held areas stopping civilians from leaving.
UN spokesman Rupert Colville said that family members reported losing contact with the men, who are in the fighting-age range of 30 to 50 years old, after they fled opposition-held areas of Aleppo about a week or 10 days ago.
It was not clear whether they were fighters or civilians.
Mr Colville also said the UN high commissioner for human rights was worried by reports of armed opposition groups preventing civilians from fleeing east Aleppo and had fired on them.
He estimated there might be about 100,000 civilians in areas under the control of armed opposition groups in eastern Aleppo. They included about 500 cases involving people in need of urgent medical attention.
“Given the terrible record of arbitrary detention, torture and enforced disappearances by the Syrian government, we are of course deeply concerned about the fate of these individuals,” said Mr Colville.
Syrian state television broadcast footage of families emerging from Aleppo’s ravaged eastern districts, as civilians streamed out of the enclave that had been held by rebels since 2012. The exodus came a day after Russia announced that the Syrian army was suspending combat operations to allow for the safe departure of civilians from rebel-held districts, but residents and medics in eastern Aleppo said the bombardment was unrelenting.
“Bombing is truly round the clock,” said Ziad Mohammed, a lawyer and father of three, living in eastern Aleppo’s Al Mash- had neighbourhood. “There are no hospitals. The remnants of the dead fill the streets and the wounded have to fend for themselves.” Mr Mohammad, an outspoken government opponent, said he and many of those remaining were braced for death.
“If staying here means dying here, then standing by my principles will have been enough,” he said.
Earlier this week, efforts to transport hundreds of wounded people to safety faltered, despite pleas from medical officials.
A hospital administrator in eastern Aleppo said medics had submitted lists of patients who needed to be moved.
“There hasn’t been a response yet, and the shelling continues,” he said.
Rebel defences have collapsed in the face of a broad government offensive preceded by an intensive aerial campaign. More than three-quarters of the rebel sector have now fallen, including the symbolically important ancient Aleppo district.
Tens of thousands of residents have fled to western Aleppo, and those remaining are cornered in the southern part of the formerly rebel-held east.
An opposition official disputed government claims that the army now holds 90 per cent of eastern Aleppo, saying that more than a dozen neighbourhoods remained in rebel hands.
“More than 30 per cent of east Aleppo is controlled by us,” said Osama Abu Zayd, an adviser to the umbrella group known as the Free Syrian Army. He said the Syrian army and Russians were targeting rebel positions on the front lines.
In Russia, Lt Gen Sergei Rudskoi yesterday said that 10,500 civilians – including 4,015 children – had left Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods in the past 24 hours. The number could not be independently verified.