BBC Online :
Up to 16,000 civilians have been displaced by the Syrian government’s advance into besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo, the UN says.
Humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said thousands more were likely to flee if the fighting continued to spread and intensify
in the coming days. He expressed concern about their fate, calling the situation deeply alarming.
Troops and militiamen have retaken more than a third of the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo since the weekend. Overnight, at least 18 people were killed in government air strikes on the remaining rebel-held areas, including 12 in the Shaar district near the new northern frontline, according to a UK-based monitoring group.
Another 10 died in an air strike in the Bab al-Nairab area on Tuesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added. An opposition activist network said a group of displaced civilians had been targeted and it put the death toll at 25. Aleppo was Syria’s largest city and its commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.
Up to 16,000 civilians have been displaced by the Syrian government’s advance into besieged rebel-held areas of the city of Aleppo, the UN says.
Humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said thousands more were likely to flee if the fighting continued to spread and intensify
in the coming days. He expressed concern about their fate, calling the situation deeply alarming.
Troops and militiamen have retaken more than a third of the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo since the weekend. Overnight, at least 18 people were killed in government air strikes on the remaining rebel-held areas, including 12 in the Shaar district near the new northern frontline, according to a UK-based monitoring group.
Another 10 died in an air strike in the Bab al-Nairab area on Tuesday morning, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added. An opposition activist network said a group of displaced civilians had been targeted and it put the death toll at 25. Aleppo was Syria’s largest city and its commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.
