Syrian, Russian Aircraft Pound Rebel-Held Aleppo

إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية W460

Residents in rebel-held areas of Syria's Aleppo cowered in their homes on Saturday as relentless missile strikes and barrel bomb attacks pounded the besieged eastern half of the divided city.

The raids by Russian and Syrian aircraft continued for a second night, after Damascus announced an operation late Thursday to recapture all of the city.

Heavy bombardment on Friday killed at least 47 people, among them seven children, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

The toll was expected to rise with the ongoing strikes levelling entire buildings, and obliterating whole streets.

"There are certainly deaths in the bombing (on Saturday) but we don't have tolls yet and people are still trapped under the rubble," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

An AFP correspondent in eastern Aleppo saw massive destruction in several neighbourhoods, including Al-Kalasseh and Bustan al-Qasr, where some streets were almost erased by the bombardment.

Unexploded rockets were still buried in the roads in some areas, and elsewhere enormous craters around five metres (16 feet) deep and wide had been left by the bombing.

Residents and activists described the use of a missile that produced earthquake-like tremors upon impact and razed buildings right down to the basement level where many residents desperately seek protection during bombing.

The civil defence organisation known as the White Helmets was left overwhelmed by the scale of the destruction, particularly after several of its bases were damaged in bombing on Friday.

The group says it has just two fire engines left for all of eastern Aleppo which, like its ambulances, are struggling to move around the city.

With no electricity or fuel for generators, the streets of Aleppo are pitch black and difficult to navigate at night, and the fuel shortage has also made it tough to fill up vehicles.

In many places, rubble strewn across streets has rendered them impassable and has effectively sealed off neighbourhoods to traffic.

On Saturday morning, the streets were nearly empty, with just a few residents out looking for bread.

The approximately 250,000 people in eastern Aleppo have been under near-continuous siege since government troops encircled the area in mid-July.

A truce deal negotiated between Moscow and Washington brought a few days of respite from the violence, though no humanitarian aid, earlier this month.

But the deal has fallen apart, and on Thursday the Syrian army announced an operation to retake all of Aleppo, urging civilians in the east to distance themselves from "terrorists" and promising them safe passage to government-controlled areas.

Comments 12
Thumb justin 24 September 2016, 11:38

Russian and Syrian rockets only zoom in on armed rebels not flatten entire streets and buildings.

Massacres and war crimes being committed on a daily basis and the world could care less.

Thumb ice-man 25 September 2016, 05:36

@Mystic MF ( My Friend )

Do you still tear up like I do when you remember Sayidna Al Hussain?

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 25 September 2016, 08:35

325 civilians - third of them Children - slaughtered in 6 days of air raids in Aleppo alone. Shame on you for supporting such a monstrosity

Missing humble 24 September 2016, 19:04

Backward culture. Who would want to have Iran as a model? The Lebanese Shi3a? Do they really want to go back to stone age????

Missing humble 24 September 2016, 19:12

The Butcher is the greatest criminal of our times. He will be taken to International Court and be jailed for the rest of his life. He killed 300 000 of his own people.
To the idiots on this blog: these 300 000 have nothing to do with Daesh or Takfiris....
Anyone who supports a criminal is a criminal himself.

Missing humble 24 September 2016, 20:04

@terrorist

Suddenly all Iran supporters have disappeared because they do not know what to answer about this Fatwa against women riding bicycles...
They must feel ashamed...

Thumb shab 24 September 2016, 21:09

Chador on a bike, a real turn-on

Thumb shab 24 September 2016, 21:07

If the turbaned devil went to China, he'll have heart attack seeing all those female cyclists. Lool

Thumb janoubi 25 September 2016, 08:12

شاهد... لحظة إخراج رضيع لايزال على قيد الحياة من تحت أنقاض مبنى منهار في حلب

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJTrPCuCBUE

Thumb ex-fpm 25 September 2016, 09:10

"the Syrian army urged civilians in the east to distance themselves from "terrorists" and promised them safe passage to government-controlled areas."

.... safe passage under the rubble...

Thumb janoubi 25 September 2016, 08:23

323 dead in the last 6 days of russian bombardment of Aleppo.

Thumb ex-fpm 25 September 2016, 09:15

the death of more than 300 civilians reminded you of a song?!!