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Corpses strewn across Aleppo streets as Syria regime advances

December 9, 2016 at 12:56 pm

A teenage girl runs among the dead bodies after Assad Regime’s strike over civilians in Aleppo, Syria on November 30 2016 [Jawad al Rifai/ Anadolu Agency]

The Syrian opposition’s mayor for what is now left of opposition-held east Aleppo has stated that the past 26 days alone has seen more than 800 civilian deaths with more than 3,500 wounded. This comes as grisly footage shows the corpses of men, women and children strewn across the streets of the beleaguered city.

The Russia and Iran-backed Assad regime offensive yesterday claimed 46 lives and wounded about 230 civilians after airstrikes and rockets bombarded eastern districts of Aleppo.

Brita Haji Hassan, the mayor of Aleppo’s opposition-held neighbourhoods, spoke from Geneva saying that not only have more than 800 civilians been killed, but 150,000 others are at risk of being “massacred” leading to calls for the bombardment to cease and safe passage to be granted to civilians.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported the Syrian Civil Defence, better known as the White Helmets, as urging international organisations yesterday to protect their volunteers and to press for a safe corridor for their evacuation as the Assad regime advances.

The White Helmets are a non-partisan rescue worker force who are famed for saving civilians trapped under the rubble of buildings left behind by Russian and Syrian regime airstrikes.

“If civilians are not evacuated, they will face torture and summary executions in the [Assad] regime’s prisons,” a statement from the White Helmets released yesterday read.

For more than a fortnight, the Syrian regime of President Bashar Al-Assad, backed with Russian air support and Iran-sponsored Shia militias on the ground, has managed to grind down opposition defences and has recaptured about two-thirds of east Aleppo.

In a last ditch attempt to save the situation, Syrian opposition factions have united their formations into an “Army of Aleppo” in order to be able to better coordinate a stronger defence to attempt to salvage what remains of an Aleppo free of the Assad regime’s control.