Aleppo – Terrified residents fled a new wave of air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria’s divided city of Aleppo on Saturday, as key regime backer Russia rejected calls to rein in its ally.
For several days, violence has intensified in Aleppo, where around 250,000 people still live, aid agencies said. At least 244 civilians have been killed after being caught up in the fighting.
The dead included 43 children, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria.
The northern city was left out of a new temporary US-Russian brokered truce that appeared to be holding in the regime stronghold of Latakia as well as Damascus and the nearby rebel bastion of Eastern Ghouta.
“The regime planes focus their raids on areas where there are civilians,” Mahmoud al-Shami, an activist inside Aleppo, told the German news agency DPA via a Facebook message.
“They want to kill as many civilians as they can to raise fear and force the survivors to flee the area,” he added.
A health worker carries a girl, who has been rescued from the wreckage, after the latest air strikes
The UAE on Saturday condemned the air srikes, which have struck residential areas and medical facilities, including a hospital supported by Medecins Sans Frontieres where at least 50 people including doctors were killed, according to the medical charity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said the targeting by the government forces of hospitals and essential medical services was “immoral”.
It also called on the UN Security Council to urge the Syrian government to abide by the ceasefire and facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid to besieged areas.
Saudi Arabia also condemned the regime strikes, while Qatar has called for an emergency Arab League meeting.
The US secretary of state John Kerry is to travel to Geneva on Sunday in a show of support for the truce and will meet the UN envoy to Syria and the Jordanian and Saudi foreign ministers, the state department said.
His talks will focus on “efforts to reaffirm the cessation of hostilities nationwide in Syria”, it said.
In Aleppo’s rebel-held east, dozens of civilians left the battered Bustan Al Qasr district early on Saturday.
“The situation has become unbearable,” said Abu Mohammed as he prepared to flee with his wife and five children. “Everything is paralysed.”
At least 10 civilians died in rebel-controlled areas on Saturday, the civil defence said.
The few people out on the streets watched the sky anxiously for regime aircraft, running for shelter when one launched a new raid.
The Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, reported 28 air strikes on eastern neighbourhoods.
“The regime wants to push residents to flee Aleppo before a military offensive,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Some families have fled to safer districts, while others left by the dangerous Castello road, the only route out of near-besieged eastern Aleppo.
A raid on Wednesday hit a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross as well as nearby housing, killing 30 people and sparking an international outcry.
Anas Al Abdeh, head of the Istanbul-based opposition National Coalition, accused the regime of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Aleppo.
Source: The National, News Agencies, 30 APRIL
