“There are a large number of martyrs in Aleppo, which is why the situation is different there”.
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Anas al-Abdeh, head of the Istanbul-based opposition National Coalition, Saturday accused the Syrian government of “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Aleppo.
This week, Russian Federation and the USA agreed to pressure the parties to hold their fire in the Latakia and Eastern Ghouta regions – but Aleppo was left out of the deal.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due late Sunday in Geneva as part of a U.S. bid to reaffirm a U.S.
The government declared its own cease-fire around Damascus and the coastal Latakia region Friday after two weeks of escalating unrest.
“We will not accept under any circumstances. regional ceasefires”, they said, adding that would respond as “one bloc” to attacks in any area of the country.
In this image made from video and posted online from Validated UGC, a Civil Defense worker carries a child after airstrikes hit Aleppo, Syria, Thursday, April 28, 2016. In Latakia province, it still applied through Monday without need for an extension.
Aleppo saw some of the worst bloodletting in the course of the war last week, as the regime and allied forces and militias made a new push to retake rebel-held areas.
More than 250 civilians have been killed in Aleppo in the last 10 days.
Russian Federation has been involved in bombing sorties to support Mr. Assad since late previous year at a time when his position on the battlefield was faltering. While many have fled, the city still remains a significant population center located near the Turkish border. The presence of Nusra in nearly every contested area has allowed the Syrian army and its Russian allies to target opposition-held areas while also claiming not to have technically violated the cease-fire.
Aleppo is likely to be the focus of the next phase of the war, with both sides preparing for a major battle, according to senior rebel leaders and opposition activists who spokes to The Associated Press. Fresh bombardment shook Syria’s second city Aleppo. The Observatory said security forces fired tear gas into Hama’s main prison.
Meanwhile, some rebel groups in the Eastern Ghouta of Damascus said they refuse the “partial truce”.
Commenting on the hospital air strike, International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Ewan Watson told Reuters in Geneva, “It is unacceptable”.
A raid on Wednesday hit Al Quds hospital and nearby flats, killing 30 people in an attack United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned as “inexcusable”.
It said the four healthcare facilities that had been hit were Al Marjah polyclinic, the Bustan Al Qassar polyclinic and Shawki Hill Dialysis Centre and the Ibn Rashid Cardiac Hospital.
ICRC Syria spokesperson Marianne Gasser said attacks on hospitals and clinics were “strictly prohibited under worldwide humanitarian law”.
“People keep dying in these attacks”. Some families have fled to safer districts, while others left by the risky Castello road, the only route out of near-besieged east Aleppo. “Her painkillers have run out and there is nowhere for us to take her”, he said.
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At least 253 civilians – including 49 children – have died in shelling, rocket fire and air strikes in both sides of the divided city since April 22, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says. In the rebel-held zones, more were trapped under fallen buildings destroyed in helicopter strikes.
