Russia Says Hopes Aleppo Situation Can Be Resolved by Year-End

O’Brien said that just that morning, dozens of civilians were killed in a single airstrike and that 25,000 people have been forced to flee the eastern part of the city since Saturday.

Maria Zakharova, the ministry’s spokeswoman, said only 1 percent of United Nations aid was being directed to Deir al-Zor, where she said at least 200,000 people were trapped by Islamic State militants and in need of supplies.

“The bakeries don’t have the capacity to meet the demand for bread in eastern Aleppo”, he said. “There is a constant increase of movement on the military side”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least eight of those killed were civilians who had fled from elsewhere in the east as government forces advance, and sought refuge in rebel-held Jubb al-Qubbeh.

As the Security Council met for emergency talks on the fighting in New York, Syria’s opposition urged the United Nations to take immediate steps to protect civilians.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, SNP deputy Angus Robertson described the situation in Aleppo as “descending into hell”, adding it could constitute the biggest massacres of civilians since the Second World War. The general also said that the humanitarian situation in the city districts cleared of militants was very hard, people were without water and electricity.

The Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah and Russian air power, has made significant gains in recapturing key districts in Islamist rebel-held Aleppo.

Opposition and activists had also accused the government of shelling displaced Syrians who were fleeing the government advances.

Capturing rebel-held eastern Aleppo would be the biggest victory to date for Assad in the conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people since it arose out of protests against his rule almost six years ago.

Rudskoi said there are more than 90,000 civilians in those districts.

The Syrian government refers to all the rebels as terrorists.

“Pounded by accelerating bombardment, deliberately deprived of food and medical care, many of them — including small children — report that they are simply waiting for death”, he said.

The Observatory said more than 50,000 out of an estimated quarter-million inhabitants have been displaced by attacks on opposition-held eastern Aleppo over the past four days. The senior, pro-Assad official said the rebel lines had collapsed more quickly than expected.

Another seven people were wounded, the agency said, citing a police source in Aleppo. An additional 4,000 to 6,000 have managed to flee to the Kurdish-controlled Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood on the northern edge of the city, he said. Another front is in the eastern part of the rebel-held enclave, where pro-government troops have also kept up their advance on opposition fighters, state media reported.