Geneva — Up to 16,000 civilians have fled strife-torn parts of eastern Aleppo as the rebels lost all of the northern neighborhoods of their stronghold, the UN said Tuesday, describing the situation as “chilling”.
“The intensity of attacks on eastern Aleppo neighborhoods over the past few days has forced thousands of civilians to flee to other parts of the city,” UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said in a statement.
He pointed to reports from the UN’s humanitarian partners on the ground indicating that “up to 16,000 people have been displaced, many into uncertain and precarious situations”.
“It is likely that thousands more will have no choice but to flee should fighting continue to spread and intensify over the coming days,” he warned.
His comments came as the Syrian army advanced deep inside east Aleppo, taking several neighborhoods from the opposition in an onslaught to recapture the entire city.
Many of those fleeing the intense battles in eastern Aleppo have gone to districts held by the government or Kurdish forces, others heading south into areas still under opposition control.
O’Brien voiced concern over the “deeply alarming and chilling situation unfolding” across all of Aleppo.
The situation in eastern Aleppo is dire, with intensified ground fighting and indiscriminate aerial bombardment reportedly killing and injuring many civilians, he said.
“There are no functioning hospitals left, and official food stocks are practically finished”.
At the same time, indiscriminate shelling on government-held western Aleppo has killed and injured civilians and has displaced more than 20,000 people in recent weeks, he said.
O’Brien said the UN and its partners were trying their best to help those displaced by the fighting across the city, and stood ready to bring aid into eastern Aleppo and to carry out medical evacuations if they managed to get access.
“The parties to the conflict in Syria have shown time and again that they are willing to take any action to secure military advantage even if it means killing, maiming or starving civilians into submission in the process,” he said.
O’Brien also pointed to the some 700,000 people living in other besieged areas across war-ravaged Syria.
“In these areas, as in eastern Aleppo, there is no protection and little access to life-saving items,” he said, warning that “people in these besieged areas are trapped, terrified and running out of time.”
O’Brien urged all parties to the conflict “to restore basic humanity in Syria,” insisting that “the people of Syria have suffered far too much and for far too long.”
Conditions in its rebel-held eastern districts were already difficult after the army and its allies managed to impose a siege over the summer, followed by heavy bombardments using artillery, warplanes and helicopters dropping barrel bombs.
However, the fighting has escalated after the army began a new offensive last week, bringing more eastern Aleppo districts close to the front line as rescue and ambulance workers say their vehicles and equipment are running out of fuel.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said warplanes pounded eastern Aleppo districts overnight, killing at least 18 people, including 12 in Al-Shaar district near the new front line.
Meanwhile in Paris, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an immediate United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the situation in the Syrian city of Aleppo, which has been devastated by fighting.
“More than ever before, we need to urgently put in place means to end the hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid to get through unhindered,” Ayrault said in a statement.
A French diplomatic source added that Ayrault and his German counterpart would discuss Aleppo with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a meeting in Minsk on Tuesday, at which leading European foreign ministers will discuss plans for implementing a ceasefire agreement for eastern Ukraine.
France, a key backer of the Syrian opposition, is due to convene a meeting of countries opposed to Assad, including the United States, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, in December. — Reuters
