Aleppo ceasefire up in f lames
PRESIDENT Assad’s warplanes resumed their bombardment of Aleppo last night raising fears of more civilian casualties in the devastated Syrian city.
Syrian Arab Air Force jets launched a blitzkrieg against jihadi bases hours after a ceasefire by Russian and Syrian government forces ended, witnesses said.
According to unconfirmed reports, the attacks on Al Atareb, a town in the Western Aleppo Governorate, included the use of cluster bombs, which are banned under international war treaties.
War monitors also claimed a five-year-old girl was killed in the latest shelling by Syrian government aircraft.
She was named locally as Nada Al Sayyed.
The resumption of hostilities follows an offensive by Islamic militant groups into areas held by President Assad’s troops. Around 74 civilians, including 25 children, have been killed by jihadists’ indiscriminate bombing of Aleppo’s suburbs, according to human rights groups.
Last night, a member of the White Helmets civil defence volunteers – who have rescued hundreds of casualties from the rubble of buildings destroyed in air strikes – spoke of his despair at the tactics of forces on both sides of the conflict.
Bebars Mishal, who runs ambulances and rescue teams in eastern Aleppo, said: ‘Nothing can be done. Nobody can stop the planes. All we can do is take precautions and be ready 24 hours a day.’
About 275,000 people live in daily fear of further bombings in besieged areas of eastern Aleppo. They are understood to have refused Russian requests to leave their homes and find sanctuary outside the city.
However, many civilians claim that Russia’s offers of safe passage are merely a ploy intended to deflect criticism from Moscow.
Syrian state media alleges that despite Russia’s promises, civilians were unable to leave the city after rebel groups opened fire along the agreed evacuation routes. Last night, charities Save The Children and Médecins Sans Frontières warned that 1,500 wounded children remain trapped inside the city, without access to medical treatment.
Aleppo has become the focal point of fighting in Syria’s war, which is now in its sixth year. The indiscriminate shelling of civilian neighbourhoods by government and rebel forces has led to widespread condemnation by human rights groups and the United Nations.
The use of this tactic by rebels, in a bid to destroy military targets in governmentheld western Aleppo, has led to calls for the US to cut off support for these groups.
It was also reported yesterday that Islamic State forces were withdrawing from some rural areas of northern Syria, possibly in a bid to reinforce the group’s grip on the city of Raqqa.