UN calls for ceasefire to allow urgent aid into Aleppo

The United Nations yesterday called for an urgent pause in fighting in Aleppo and for humanitarian access to the city.

Two million civilians are thought to be trapped in Syria’s northern capital without access to running water or electricity.

“At a minimum, the UN requires a full-fledged ceasefire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses to reach the millions people in need throughout Aleppo and replenish the food and medicine stocks, which are running dangerously low,” two UN aid officials, Yacoub El Hillo and Kevin Kennedy, said in a statement.

Since fighting erupted for control of Aleppo in 2012, the city has been divided between regime forces in the west and opposition in the east. Over the past couple of weeks, opposition forces have pressed into government-held areas and broke through government lines, opening supply routes and cutting off forces loyal to Assad.

The Syrian government has deployed hundreds of extra fighters in Aleppo in an attempt to reverse opposition gains. Both sides now brace for a crucial battle for control of the city, as the Army of Conquest, a coalition of opposition groups, vowed to “liberate all of Aleppo”.

Government forces and allies of the Assad regime, including fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, have launched fierce counter-offensives and heavily bombarded opposition-held areas. Russian airstrikes have also targeted residential areas and refugee camps.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least nine people have been killed in government strikes on opposition-held parts of Aleppo.