Fall of Aleppo unlikely to end war in Syria: German FM

Pro-government troops are said to have taken full control of those neighbourhoods rebel fighters withdrew from and are closing in on their last few holdouts.

Syrian civilians leave toward safer rebel-held areas in Aleppo, on Tuesday.

“Any state with power in its hands must take a decision as soon as possible to evacuate these people”, he said.

Osama Abu Zayd, a legal adviser for an umbrella group of rebel factions known as the Free Syrian Army, said the cease-fire went into effect Tuesday evening.

But, even if the rebels are defeated, the European Union says no peace can hold in Syria as Damascus would face years of guerrilla warfare and the country could fall apart if power is not decentralised or devolved to give the opposition a role.

Save the Children said the situation was “catastrophic” with people’s “worst fears” of revenge attacks becoming a reality.

The AFP reporter said the bombardment of rebel areas was among the heaviest in recent days.

“Today, tomorrow, everyday, we will intensify our talks with Russian Federation and other countries so we can find a solution to this humanitarian tragedy”, Cavusoglu said at a press conference with his Czech counterpart in Ankara.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman of the United Nations human rights office said reports of civilians being targeted came from several neighbourhoods late Monday evening. The insurgents still control the northwestern Idlib province as well as scattered patches of territory elsewhere in the country.

The debate was granted shortly after Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon warned it was “almost impossible” to use air drops to get aid into the city while Russian Federation controlled the air defences in Syria.

Pro-government forces advanced into the Syrian city of Aleppo this week, entering homes and killing civilians.

That and other reports of mass killings, which could not be independently confirmed, reinforced fears of atrocities in the final hours of the battle for the city.

Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, told reporters that the death toll from the Syrian offensive included at least eleven women and thirteen children-some shot in the streets as they tried to escape.

A daily bulletin issued by the Russian Defence Ministry’s “reconciliation centre” from the Hmeimin airbase used by its warplanes, reported that more than 8,000 civilians, more than half of them children, had left east Aleppo in 24 hours.

Tens of thousands of civilians remain in rebel-held areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, hemmed in by ever-changing front lines, pounded by air strikes and shelling and without basic supplies.

Bassam Haj Mustafa, a senior member of the Nour el-Din el-Zinki group who is in contact with fighters inside the city, said Monday that the collapse of the rebel enclave is “terrifying”.

“We need to verify that on the ground, that they have reached an agreement with the armed opposition”.

“They have utterly failed to protect the city’s children during months of siege, but there is at least now an opportunity for Britain to make every effort to end this carnage and safely evacuate the remaining civilians”.

State television also aired live footage from inside Salhin district, one of the areas fully retaken on Monday, showing widespread destruction.

Some civilians trying to flee the fighting “were reportedly caught and killed on the spot and others were arrested”, he said.

The Observatory said government forces continued their bombing of the remaining rebel areas on Monday, including airstrikes on Bustan al-Qasr, near the government-controlled western part of Aleppo, and al-Fardous.

The offensive began on November 26, and followed an intensive aerial campaign that knocked out most of the medical facilities in eastern Aleppo, which has been besieged by government forces since July. “Numerous families and children have not left for areas under the control of the regime because their fathers are from the rebels”, said Abu Ibrahim, a resident of Aleppo in a text message.