Syria army retakes Aleppo as city burns
Pro-government troops seize Farafina district
Damascus, Sept. 27: Syria’s army took control of a rebel-held district in central Aleppo on Tuesday, after days of heavy air strikes that have killed dozens and sparked allegations of war crimes.
In the first advance since announcing plans last week to retake all of the divided city, pro-government troops seized the Farafina district northwest of Aleppo’s historic citadel. “After neutralising many terrorists... units are now demining the area,” a source said.
The push follows several days of Syrian and Russian air strikes on rebel-held Aleppo neighbourhoods — some of the fiercest bombardment of the five-year conflict so far — after a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow and Washington collapsed last week.
The Aleppo maelstrom prompted Western powers to accuse Russia of committing possible war crimes.
On the ground in eastern Aleppo, air strikes struck several neighbourhoods simultaneously, including in AlShaar, where a fivestorey building was levelled with a family stuck inside. A young girl, her body encased in rubble, was among the dead. Her father, in shock as rescue workers picked up her lifeless body, collapsed beside, saying: “She's just sleeping. She’s just used to sleeping.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said more than 155 have been killed since last week.