Residents of Syria’s battered city of Aleppo faced worsening food and medical shortages on Monday as Syrian and Russian war-planes again pounded rebel-held areas in defiance of international concern.
A fresh wave of intensive air strikes hit the city’s opposition-controlled east from dawn on Monday, an AFP correspondent in the city said, on the morning after Moscow and Damascus were repeatedly accused of war crimes at the UN Security Council.
The emergency council meeting, called by Britain, France and the United States, saw Russia accused of “barbarism” over the worsening carnage in Aleppo.
Yet, the worst violence to hit the divided city in years continued on Monday and residents warned that stores of food and vital medical supplies were dwindling to nothing. The strikes from dawn on Monday were particularly heavy on two rebel-held districts, Al-Mashhad and Sayf al-Dawla, and sparked large fires, the AFP correspondent said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said “dozens of raids” had hit districts of east Aleppo after midnight on Sunday, with many wounded and at least two civilians killed.
It was the fourth day of intense air raids on the city since a defiant Syrian regime launched a new assault vowing to retake all of Aleppo following the collapse early last week of a short-lived ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States.
128 dead since ThursdayThe Observatory said Monday that at least 128 people, nearly all civilians, had been killed in Syrian and Russian raids on eastern Aleppo since late Thursday.
A Syrian military source told AFP regime forces had no intention of letting up on rebel-held areas. “The air force will bomb any terrorist movements, this is an irreversible decision,” the source said, reiterating that the regime’s goal was to “recapture all regions of Syria” outside its control.
With Aleppo back under siege since regime forces again fully surrounded the city in early September, residents were having to deal with food shortages and sky-rocketing prices as well as intensifying violence.
Several charity kitchens that had distributed food in eastern districts were no longer operating due to the danger of air strikes.
Water supplies also remained cut off to many areas after pumping stations were damaged at the weekend.
At the Security Council meeting, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power voiced strong criticism of Russia’s support for President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime. “What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism. It is barbarism,” she said.
Russia launched air strikes in support of Mr. Assad last September, helping regime forces to regain ground lost to a wide range of opposition forces. UN envoys raised deep concern over the use of arms including bunker-busting bombs in the Aleppo strikes. ”It is difficult to deny that Russia is partnering with the Syrian regime to carry out war crimes,” said British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also warned the use of advanced weaponry against civilians could amount to war crimes.
