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LIVE BLOG: Battle for Aleppo

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LIVE BLOG: Battle for Aleppo
Latest updates on the battle for Aleppo as fighting intensifies between rebel and government forces in Syria's second city
  • More than 330 civilians killed in rebel-controlled parts of Aleppo in seven days, according to WHO
  • Syria launches mass ground offensive against rebel-held areas of city
  • West condemns Syrian government and Russia for alleged attack on an aid convoy
  • Russia accuses the US and UK of using "unacceptable" rhetoric in UN speeches on Syria.

Live Updates

7 years ago

Syrian activists on Monday blocked the entrance to the Russian embassy in London in protest at the Russian government's support for Bashar al-Assad in Syria and their bombardment of the city of Aleppo.

Activists affiliated to the Syria Campaign and Syria Solidarity UK constructed a barrier constructed of fake arms, while two activists purportedly chained themselves to the gates

“We’re here because innocent children are being killed in their beds, while doctors are being bombed just for trying to save the lives of others," said John Dunford from the Syria Campaign, one of those chained, in a statement. "The Russian government and the Assad regime are committing these war crimes in Aleppo and things could be about to get even worse."

“We will not stand by and let this happen. This is a test of our shared humanity, a line we cannot cross. It shouldn’t be up to activists like me to say this - the UK government should be doing far more to protect the innocent and stand up against this barbarity.”

7 years ago

A spokesman for the Syrian American Medical Society told Middle East Eye that the M10 hospital was "completely destroyed" after weeks of bombardment. 

The hospital was targeted by Russian and Syrian government warplanes approximately seven times in the last week. 

SAMS supported medical facilities have been on targeted numerous occasions by the Syrian government and Russian air-force. 

7 years ago

Syrian military on Wednesday announced a suprise reduction in bombardment of rebel groups in devastated east Aleppo. 

The announcement comes nearly two weeks after declaring an all out assault to capture the city. 

Read more here....

7 years ago

The United States on Monday suspended negotiations with Russia on efforts to revive a failed ceasefire in Syria and set up military co-ordination to target militants.

"This is not a decision that was taken lightly," State Department spokesman John Kirby said, accusing Russia and its Syrian ally of stepping up attacks on civilian areas.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest added: "Everybody's patience with Russia has run out.

Read more here...

7 years ago

The M10 hospital in east Aleppo was hit by a suspected bunker buster bomb this morning.

A spokesman from the Syrian American Medical society said that one repairman was suspected dead from the attack.

Sources however in east Aleppo have told Middle East Eyen have said that three civilians were killed in the attack. 

The hospital is still currently out of service and undergoing repairs after it was bombed last week by artillery shells fired by Syrian government militia groups. 

7 years ago
https://twitter.com/RevolutionSyria/status/782328242648875008
7 years ago
7 years ago

Thousands of people across Europe took to the streets on Saturday to express their rage at international inaction in Aleppo. The protests are scheduled to continue into the early evening and will also happen in the US, Canada and South America.

From initial social media reports, the Copenhagen march appears to have drawn the biggest crowds with tens of thousands estimated to have shown up in solidarity. 

7 years ago

The biggest hospital in rebel-held Aleppo was hit by barrel bombs on Saturday morning, activists reported. 

The M10 or Sakhour clinic, the largest medical facility still operating in the besieged rebel-held east of the city, was pounded by four barrel bombs and a so-called “bunker buster”, the opposition SMART news agency reported.

The bombing forced the hospital out of service. 

7 years ago

The activist group, Global Campaign of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution, has organized an international “Global Day of Rage for Aleppo”. The group’s Facebook page says events are planned in 26 cities so far.

7 years ago

Footage released by the Syrian American Medical Association shows two young boys receiving treatment after their house collapses following an air strike on their rebe-held neighbourhood in east Aleppo.  

7 years ago

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Russia was in danger of becoming a pariah nation, as he hit out at alleged "double tap" bombing raids in Syria, hitting aid workers.

"They drop one bomb and then they wait for the aid workers to come out, civilian people pulling the injured from the rubble, and then five minutes later they drop another bomb," he told The Sun newspaper.

Johnson said the British government had evidence that Russian jets had carried out such attacks, which were "unquestionably a war crime".

"We have evidence. We have good ground to believe that the Russians themselves have been doing that.

"We are trying to document that fully because that is in my view unquestionably a war crime."

He said Britain and the United States were looking at a "range of options" designed to ramp up the pressure on Moscow.

"The single most potent weapon we have is shame," he said.

"The world's attitude towards Russia has been hardening and I think people now believe that Russia is in danger of becoming a pariah nation."

7 years ago

France on Friday discussed a UN draft resolution on imposing a ceasefire in Syria's battleground city of Aleppo with Russia, the United States and the two other permanent Security Council members, diplomats said.

The draft text calls for a cessation of hostilities in Aleppo, where the Syrian army has launched an offensive to retake the rebel-held east of the city.

The proposed resolution would also provide for aid deliveries to besieged eastern Aleppo and the grounding of all Syrian and Russian planes in that area.

A ceasefire monitoring mechanism would be set up with experts from the 20-nation International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) taking part, said a diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

7 years ago

Secretary of State John Kerry is frustrated that his diplomatic efforts to end Syria's civil war were not backed up by US military force, according to a recording leaked Friday.

In the audio released by the New York Times, Kerry is heard lamenting to a group of Syrian civilians last week in New York that his call for US action against Bashar al-Assad's government fell on deaf ears.

"I think you're looking at three people, four people in the administration who have all argued for use of force, and I lost the argument," he tells the group.

"I've argued for the use of force ... but things evolved into a different process."

State Department spokesman John Kirby did not deny that the recording -- made at a private meeting in a diplomatic mission on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly -- is authentic. 

"While we will decline to comment on a private conversation, Secretary Kerry was grateful for the chance to meet with this group of Syrians, to hear their concerns first hand and to express our continued focus on ending this civil war," he said.