Almost 10000 civilians flee east Aleppo

The International Committee of the Red Cross said about 20,000 had fled in the past four days, while the Syrian Observatory put the figure at more than 50,000.

The group said a government artillery attack on a housing area on Wednesday morning, where those displaced by the fighting had sought refuge, killed at least 21 people.

Destruction is seen in Aleppo’s Bustan Al-Basha neighborhood during Syrian pro-government forces’ assault to retake the entire northern city from rebel fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said at least 21 people died when government shell fire hit the Jubb al-Qubbeh area.

Syrian government troops now control the section of east Aleppo north of the Sakhour highway, according to monitors. It said over 900 civilians, including one hundred and 19 children, left the militant-held area of Jabal Bidaru in the past 24 hours, using corridors provided by Russian Federation and the Syrian authorities.

The army and its allies took control on Saturday of the large Hanano housing district, on the northeast frontline of the besieged eastern part of Aleppo. Others fled to areas recaptured by the government, laying out blankets to sleep with their children outside in the cold.

The regime gains have prompted an exodus of thousands of desperate civilians, some fleeing to districts held by the government or Kurdish forces, others heading south into areas still under opposition control.

“We are deeply concerned about the impact of the fighting on the civilian population in Aleppo”, he told AFP.

Syrian regime hopes that the country’s conflict could be ended through a major military offensive in eastern Aleppo are futile, Germany’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

The army later said it had taken a third district, Holok, and killed a large number of terrorists, the term it uses for its opponents.

For Assad’s regime, taking Aleppo would be “one of its greatest victories”, Middle East expert Mathieu Guidere says, stressing the city’s “extraordinary historical, political and geopolitical prestige”.

“Under heavy bombardments now. In between death and life now, please keep praying for us”.

Though rebels are ceding ground, they continue to launch rockets into the western half of the city.

United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura estimated last month that there were 8,000 rebel fighters in eastern Aleppo.

The fall of rebel-held eastern Aleppo would not mean the end of the fight against President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian opposition’s senior negotiator has told the BBC.

– July 17: Government forces cut the rebel’s last supply route into Aleppo city, effectively placing east Aleppo under regime siege.

The capture of Jabal Badro comes as activists reported tens of civilian casualties from a presumed government or Russian air strike on a village outside Aleppo.