16k flee militant-held eastern Aleppo, UN says

The advance, after heavy bombing from the air, is a major blow for the armed opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian Civil Defense, a team of first responders, said the airstrikes hit a group of civilians fleeing to Bab al-Nairab district from government advances in the north. Hundreds of families have been displaced.

“Two thousand of them were exhausted and in very bad shape”.

Two rebel officials said they had withdrawn from the northern part of eastern Aleppo to a more defensible front line after losses from fierce bombardment and ground attacks.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Syrian government forces in recent days captured 12 neighborhoods and over 3,000 buildings.

Also Tuesday, at least 1,200 including rebels and their relatives were evacuated from a rebel stronghold near Damascus to the northwest province of Idlib, the Observatory and aid workers said. A cease-fire in October was never fully implemented, and it is believed that the Syrian army took advantage of the cease-fire to continue to build up its forces around rebel groups in the area. Numerous fleeing civilians headed to government and Kurdish-controlled areas while others were driven deeper into the remaining rebel-held zones.

The fighting has prompted an exodus of terrified civilians, many fleeing empty-handed into remaining rebel-held territory, or crossing into government-controlled west Aleppo or Kurdish districts.

Government forces backed by Shi’ite militias from Iran, Lebanon and Iraq punched into the rebel-held area from the northeast last week.

He said although thousands of people have fled to government or Kurdish-controlled areas in Aleppo, many stayed because they are wanted by the state and fear being caught if they leave.

Some 6,000 civilians crossed into the Kurdish-controlled Sheikh Maqsoud district, the Observatory said.

Shimale said the attack killed 28 civilians, including many women and children. Food supplies were gone, he said.

“The situation on the ground in eastern Aleppo is nearly beyond the imagination of those of us who are not there”, Mr Craig said. “In between death and life now, please keep praying for us”.

The situation in eastern Aleppo is dire, with intensified ground fighting and indiscriminate aerial bombardment reportedly killing and injuring many civilians, he said.

United Nations envoy Jan Egeland last week said that rebels had agreed to the plan, but the consent of Syria and its Russian ally was still pending.

Moscow hopes the situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo could be resolved before the end of 2016, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Wednesday.

The opposition has steadily lost territory in recent months to government forces bolstered by a Russian military intervention that began in September previous year.

Eastern Aleppo has become the epicenter of Syria’s civil war, much of it decimated in regime strikes backed by Russian air power.

The Syrian army had “secured the exit of thousands of citizens” into the regime-held western neighborhoods of Aleppo, according to state media.

With Monday’s capture of Sakhour, the rebels are now left boxed in mostly in central and southeastern Aleppo, encircled by government troops on all sides.

A looming rebel rout will definitely become more costly for the opposition judging that backers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar will reassess their approach which can possibly lead to the withdrawal of logistical support.