Syrian government launches Aleppo ground attack
Syrian government forces and their allies attacked the opposition-held sector of Aleppo on several fronts on September 27, the biggest ground assault yet in a massive new campaign that has destroyed a U.S.-backed ceasefire.
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| People look at the sky fearing an airstrike in the rebel-held al-Myassar neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria, September 27, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail |
Washington, which agreed a ceasefire with Russia this month that collapsed after a week, says Moscow and Damascus are guilty of "barbarism" and war crimes for targeting civilians, health workers and aid deliveries in air strikes.
More than 250,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, where intensive bombing over the past week has killed hundreds of people, many trapped under buildings brought down by bunker-busting bombs.
One air raid killed 12 people from two families when it brought down a building on September 26, bringing the death toll in opposition districts to more than 30, said Bebars Mishal, a spokesman for the Civil Defence emergency service.
A video purported to be of the attack's aftermath showed emergency workers bringing an apparently lifeless, dust-covered body out of the wreckage in a cherry-picker crane.
Only about 30 doctors are left in rebel-held Aleppo, coping with hundreds of wounded each day who are being treated on the floors of hospitals that are bereft of supplies.
The World Health Organization called for the "immediate establishment of humanitarian routes to evacuate sick and wounded" from the besieged eastern part of the city.
September 27's assault saw pro-government forces, which include the Syrian army and allied militia from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, attempt to attack Aleppo's Old City near its historic citadel, as well as around several of the city's major access points.
Troops advanced from the countryside to the north and south, rebels said, leading to intense clashes. The military and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitoring group, said the army had made some gains, but this was disputed by rebels who said they had held them off.
A rebel official said insurgents had advanced against government forces in a separate battle further south, in Hama province.
The rebels took over several villages in Hama's northeastern countryside, building on gains they made nearby on September 24, said Mohammed Rasheed, a spokesman for the Jaish al-Nasr rebel group.
The Observatory also reported the advance.
