Aleppo withstood another day of all-out war as bombardments in eastern Aleppo left at least 27 people dead and 120 injured on Monday, according to the Syrian Civil Defense Force, also called the White Helmets.
The casualties followed days of intense bombings on eastern Aleppo and surrounding countryside, which have left more than 300 people dead, the most intense bombing since the conflict started in 2011. It has particularly devastated Aleppo, divided between government-controlled areas in the west and rebel positions in the east.
The Syrian regime resumed heavy bombardment over eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after a three-week lull, killing at least 289 people by Saturday, the White Helmets said. Among the latest reported violence: a suspected chemical attack that killed four children and their parents.
Two activist groups — the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Aleppo Media Center — said a barrage of barrel bombs struck their neighborhood, al-Sakhour.
The Syrian American Medical Society told CNN that not one hospital is operating at full capacity because of the relentless bombardment. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the assault and “indiscriminate shelling” for killing and maiming scores of civilians, including children, and for leaving eastern Aleppo without a functioning hospital.
The Syrian regime, backed by Russian air power, has decimated much of eastern Aleppo with aerial bombardments in recent months, and analysts have said the intensified air raids are a sign the regime may be planning a ground offensive to wrest control of the area.
A government siege on eastern Aleppo since July has essentially cut the area off from the rest of the world — a stranglehold tactic that the Syrian regime is infamous for.
Today, eastern Aleppo is desperately short of food, medicine and fuel supplies, while the roads are full of rubble from destroyed buildings. The sound of bombings and news of children dying have become the norm.
“Inside the city of Aleppo is a Holocaust,” an Aleppo resident, who describes himself as an independent media activist, told CNN on Sunday.
He said neighbors and families were sharing what little food they had left to survive.
The United Nations has pushed to get into the area to deliver aid, and on Sunday it announced it had designed a detailed humanitarian plan to provide assistance and medical evacuations from Syria. It said it had shared the plan with all parties in the conflict, as well as its member states.
“It is imperative all parties agree to the plan and allow us to secure immediate, safe and unimpeded access to provide relief to those most in need in east Aleppo, but equally in all other parts of Syria where there are people in need,” read a joint statement from Syria Humanitarian Coordinator Ali Al-Za’tari and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis Kevin Kennedy.
