Syria's government recaptures all of Aleppo city

[Anthea]

No information on Syrian opposition readiness to accept humanitarian plan

Statements made by Jan Egeland, Special Advisor to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, said that the Syrian opposition in eastern parts of Aleppo agreed to accept the UN plan on humanitarian aid

"The Russian Defense Ministry is ready to support any initiatives on delivering humanitarian aid to civilians in Syria not only from UN, but also from other international organizations and countries, regarding both eastern Aleppo and other parts of Syria," Konashenkov said.

He reminded that "thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid from Russia were already delivered by the Russian Center on Reconciliation in Syria to the provinces of Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Damascus, Latakia, Palmyra, Deir ez-Zor and other cities."

"Talking about statements made by Mr Egeland on Aleppo. The Russian Defense Ministry does not have reliable information on alleged agreement of the ‘armed opposition’ to delivery of humanitarian aid. There are no names, evidence or documents, apart from Mr Egeland’s words," Konashenkov said.

"If the ‘opposition’ in Aleppo agrees to humanitarian aid and evacuation of civilians, who has mined and shells all humanitarian corridors then? Who opens fire from mortars and self-made rocket launchers at residential areas of western Aleppo?" Konashenkov wondered.

"Do terrorists now about his (Egeland’s) agreements with ‘opposition forces’? Or are the ‘opposition forces’ terrorists themselves that kill Aleppo residents at night and hold talks with UN representative Egeland during the day?" he noted.

Konashenkov stressed that "Russia repeatedly introduced humanitarian pauses in Aleppo for different duration, but every time they get disrupted for two reasons:

UN representatives turn out to be not ready for delivering humanitarian aid, and terrorists in Aleppo don’t know that they allegedly agreed to let local residents evacuate."

"As a result, during the last humanitarian pause, two officers from the Russian reconciliation center, while expecting the humanitarian convoy to enter the city, sustained shrapnel wounds from the mortar shelling by militants from the eastern part of Aleppo," the spokesman reminded.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/no ... -ministry/

[Anthea]

Extremely difficult to get AID to the civilians when armed jihadists control the area

These defenseless civilians are human shields and the armed rebels will control any AID entering Aleppo unless the UN has a much larger peace-keeping force within the city to deal with AID distribution

I had noticed that we never hear of jihadists suffering from hunger and they certainly do not seem to be suffering from a lack of weapons

[Anthea]

Syria government forces retake largest Aleppo rebel district

Syrian government forces have retaken the largest rebel-controlled district in eastern Aleppo, state media report.

The capture of Masaken Hanano, in north-east Aleppo, could give Syria's army line-of-fire control over other opposition-held areas, activists say.

The government resumed its offensive to retake eastern Aleppo on 15 November. Some 275,000 people are under siege.

The assault has killed 212 civilians, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

Among the victims were 27 children, the monitoring group added.

Reports suggest there is a lack of medical supplies and food.

Syrian forces, now in "full control" of the district, were clearing the area of mines and bombs, state news agency Sana said.

Soldiers were now just metres away from isolating the northern districts of east Aleppo from the southern ones, Abdel Rahman, from the Syrian Observatory, told AFP news agency.

The group said other areas of Aleppo were also targeted.

Air strikes launched as part of the recent government offensive were described by activists as the most intense ever, leaving the streets deserted.

Aleppo, once Syria's commercial and industrial hub, has been divided roughly in two since 2012, with the government controlling the west and rebels the east.

In the past year, Syrian troops have broken the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes.

Russia says its air force is active in other parts of the country, but not operating over Aleppo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38120009

Let us hope that others countries stop interfering and arming the rebels

I still remember when there were peaceful protests in Syria before armed rebels moved in - took over - killed most of the peaceful protesters

Years ago, Syrian borders should have been closed to jihadists - many of whom are not even Syrian - and supplies of weapons

[Anthea]

Civilians flee eastern Aleppo as Syrian army advances

Hundreds of civilians have fled rebel-held eastern Aleppo after government forces, determined to retake all of Syria’s second city, seized its largest opposition-controlled district.

The capture on Saturday of Masaken Hanano – which had been the biggest rebel-held district of Aleppo – was a major breakthrough in a 13-day regime offensive to retake the entire city.

The fighting moved to neighbouring districts, including al-Haidariya and al-Sakhur, on Sunday, with regime aircraft pounding rebel positions and heavy clashes between the opposition and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Masaken Hanano was the first district the rebels took in the summer of 2012, in a move that divided the city into a rebel-held east and a regime-controlled west.

About 250,000 civilians trapped under government siege for months in the east have faced serious food and fuel shortages.

More than 500 civilians fled rebel-held districts for the government-controlled west overnight, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said on Sunday.

The civilians fled to Masaken Hanano after it fell under government control and were taken by the army to regime-held areas, the Observatory said.

“It is the first exodus of this kind from east Aleppo since 2012,” its chief, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.

Syrian state television broadcast images of a crowd of civilians including women and children gathered around green buses that it said had come to pick them up in Masaken Hanano.

One woman was shown pushing a pram and many others carried plastic bags on their heads while a bombardment could be heard in the distance.

Yasser al-Youssef, from the rebel group Nour al-Din al-Zenki, said opposition fighters were consolidating their positions in Sakhur. “We are strengthening our positions to defend the city and residents, but the aircraft are destroying everything methodically, area by area,” he said, referring to a regime campaign of airstrikes on the city.

Sakhur lies on a stretch about a mile (1.5km) between western Aleppo and Masaken Hanano, now both controlled by the regime.

If the regime did manage to take control of the district, eastern Aleppo would be split in two from north to south, dealing a further blow to the armed opposition.

Pro-government media reported government forces continued their advance on Sunday.

The latest regime push comes after days of intense bombardment on the east, which has been pounded with airstrikes, shells and barrel bombs.

On Saturday, dozens of families fled Sakhur and Haidariya as regime raids and artillery fire killed at least 18 civilians in several districts, the UK-based Observatory said.

That took to 219 the overall number of civilians killed, including 27 children, since the government launched its latest assault on eastern Aleppo on 15 November.

Rebel forces also intensified rocket attacks on western districts overnight, killing at least four civilians and wounding dozens, the Observatory said.

Such attacks have killed a total of 27 civilians since the offensive began, among them 11 children.

The United Nations has a plan to deliver aid to Aleppo and evacuate the sick and wounded, which rebel factions have approved but which Damascus has not yet agreed. Guarantees are also needed from regime ally Russia.

Once a commercial and industrial hub, Aleppo has seen some of the worst fighting in Syria’s five-and-a-half-year war.

The conflict broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests and has since evolved into a complex war involving different factions and foreign powers.

On Sunday, the Turkish army said 22 pro-Ankara Syrian rebels were hit by a chemical gas attack from Islamic State fighters in northern Syria.

The Turkish army is backing the Syrian fighters in an unprecedented cross-border operation it says is targeting both Isis and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which it considers to be a terrorist group.

The YPG is a key component of a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance that is fighting to oust Isis from its de facto Syria capital of Raqa, after the jihadi group overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.

Syria’s war has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than half the population.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ ... y-advances

[Anthea]

Syria war: Army makes rapid gains in rebel-held east Aleppo

Syrian government forces have been making rapid advances into eastern Aleppo, forcing thousands of civilians to flee.

The Syrian army captured Jabal Badro on Sunday, a day after seizing Hanano district, and is making in-roads in other neighbourhoods.

Its aim is to divide the rebel-held east of the city in two.

Some reports said several thousand civilians were trying to escape, to government and other rebel-held areas.

Some 275,000 people are believed to remain in eastern Aleppo, where food and medical supplies have all but run out.

A post on the Twitter account of seven-year-old Bana Alabed by her mother Fatemah on Sunday said their home in eastern Aleppo was under "heavy bombardments".

It is hard to get a clear picture of how events are unfolding in eastern Aleppo, but it is being reported that:

Government forces have pushed into Sakhour neighbourhood, coming within just 500m of creating a corridor through the rebel-held territory
Reuters news agency says government troops have taken the district of Holok, while the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights says they have also taken Baadeen
Meanwhile, Kurdish-led forces have reportedly taken the Bustan al-Basha neighbourhood, allowing some 2,500 civilians to flee north

The Syrian army said it had helped 1,500 people to flee to government-controlled western parts, while Russian news agencies said some 900 civilians - including 119 children - had left Jabal Badro alone before the troops moved in.



One man left Hanano on Saturday, telling Reuters news agency it was "because of the bombardment from the Syrian army during the advance, and the chlorine gas".

He was waiting with his wife, mother and three children at a minibus stop, hoping to travel on to the west of the city.

Analysis: By Sebastian Usher, BBC's Arab Affairs Editor

This is the biggest blow so far to rebels in Aleppo. They seem to be losing ground quickly to pro-government forces attacking them from the east.

The loss of Hanano was a strategic victory for President Assad's forces - but also a symbolic one as it was the first district rebels seized in Aleppo in 2012.

The government's aim seems to be to cut the rebel-held area in two at its narrowest point. There is heavy fighting in the Sakhour district. If the rebels lose it, the army will have achieved this objective.

The fighting has set off a wave of civilians seeking refuge not only in other rebel areas, but also on the government side.

he Syrian army's offensive to retake eastern Aleppo is now into its 13th day.

Around 219 civilians, including 27 children, have been killed in the assault so far, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

Retaking all of Aleppo would be a major victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after five years of conflict.

Once Syria's commercial and industrial hub, Aleppo has been divided roughly in two since 2012, with the government controlling the west and rebels the east.

In the past year, Syrian troops have broken the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes.

Russia says its air force is active in other parts of the country, but not operating over Aleppo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38123829

[Anthea]

Syria war: Key Aleppo rebel area captured by forces

Syrian government forces have captured a key part of eastern Aleppo, splitting rebel-held territory.

Both state TV and the monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that the district of Sakhour had fallen to the Syrian army

The Syrian army and their allies launched a major offensive to retake control of Aleppo in September.

Thousands of civilians have fled rebel-held eastern Aleppo districts after a weekend of heavy fighting.

Hundreds of families have also been displaced within the besieged area.

While it is very difficult to find out exactly what is happening in besieged eastern Aleppo, several key districts appear to have fallen to the government, leaving very little, if any, of the northern part of the rebel-held enclave still under the rebels' control.

Scott Craig, the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria, told the BBC that there were 250,000 people in need of assistance in eastern Aleppo, 100,000 of them children. Food supplies are gone, he said.

"The situation on the ground in eastern Aleppo is almost beyond the imagination of those of us who are not there," Mr Craig said.

He said around 2,000 civilians had fled the fighting.

State TV quoted a Syrian military source as saying that government forces "are continuing their advance in eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo".

"Our engineers are dismantling explosive devices and mines," he added.

Rami Abdulrahman, director of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters that the opposition had lost more than third of the area it controlled in Aleppo city during the recent advance.

The east of Aleppo has been held by rebel factions opposed to President Bashar al-Assad for the past four years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38128370

[Anthea]

Putin orders mobile hospitals to be sent to residents of Aleppo



Russia will soon deploy mobile hospitals to Aleppo region to provide treatment to residents, according to the Kremlin.

“The President ordered the Defense Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry to send to Syria’s Aleppo mobile hospitals, which will provide treatment for residents of the city and its neighborhoods,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday.

The medical personnel arrived at the airport late Tuesday, where the loading of the hospital’s equipment on planes has begun.

The Defense Ministry will operate a special 100-bed clinic with trauma equipment for treating children, he added. This hospital will be able to service about 420 outcare-patients daily.

The Emergencies Ministry is also to deploy a 50-bed clinic capable of treating 200 outcare-patients each day.

The facilities will be operational “very soon,” Peskov said.

It comes as the Russian military announced a breakthrough in Syria’s operation to retake the militant-held part of Aleppo. Tens of thousands of civilians, who were previously kept by armed groups as human shields, are now in the government-controlled part of the city and require supplies and medical attention.

https://www.rt.com/news/368556-putin-ho ... po-russia/

[Anthea]

Breakthrough in Aleppo saves 80,000 civilians

This week has brought a breakthrough for the Russian-backed Syrian operation to retake eastern Aleppo, allowing humanitarian relief to be brought to tens of thousands of civilians living in the captured districts, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“Over the past few days, well-planned and careful action by the Syrian troops resulted in a radical breakthrough. Half of the territory previously held by the militants in eastern Aleppo has been de facto liberated,” Gen. Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the defense ministry, said.

“The most important thing is that over 80,000 Syrians, including tens of thousands of children, have been freed. Many of them at long last were able to get water, food, medical assistance at humanitarian centers deployed by Russia. Those Syrians served as human shields in Aleppo for terrorists of all flavors,” the general stressed.

He added that calls by some Western officials to subject Russia to further sanctions over the operation in Mosul indicated that those countries did not want civilians in Aleppo freed.

Earlier, head of the German Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Norbert Röttgen, along with other MPs, called on Berlin to impose more sanctions against Russia over the offensive in Aleppo, and open an airlift to the militant-held areas similar to the historic Berlin airlift in the late 1940s. They cited damage allegedly caused to the city by Russian airstrikes. The strikes, according to the Russian military, were paused in mid-October and did not resume.

The German Foreign Ministry said Damascus and “its supporters, above all Russia and Iran, bear the biggest responsibility” for civilian suffering in Aleppo.

Anthea: The countries that supported and armed the rebels are to blame for the suffering - there is NO excuse - countries supported non-Syrian fighters who are responsible for most of the killing and ALMOST ALL of the suicide bombings in Syria

The Russian criticism comes as the Russian-run Syria Reconciliation Center reported that over 500 fighters in Aleppo chose to surrender to the advancing Syrian Army.

“Over the past 24 hours, 507 fighters chose to leave the city districts that remain under terrorist control to the safe areas and surrender their weapons. In accordance with the Syrian president’s offer, 484 militants, who are local residents, have been immediately pardoned,” the report said.

This week, Damascus intensified its siege of eastern Aleppo, a city that for years was split between government troops and militant forces. The Syrian Army has captured the north-eastern part of the city.

The operation also put a strain on the ability of armed groups to prevent civilians from fleeing areas under their control. Previously, some of the groups controlling eastern Aleppo, like the Al-Qaeda off-shoot Al-Nusra Front, used deadly force to stop civilians trying to escape.

The military success of Damascus in Aleppo come as US Secretary of State John Kerry is engaged in a last-ditch effort to convince Russia to stop the operation, according to a Washington Post column. The diplomat reportedly wants to keep rebels in control of part of the city before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January and withdraws Washington support from the militants.

Link to Article - Videos:

https://www.rt.com/news/368541-aleppo-b ... an-relief/

[Londoner]

Two or three districts left by rebels for the Kurds to take them over. I want to see Turkish-backed rebels reach Aleppo so that turkey involves directly.

[Anthea]

Two or three districts left by rebels for the Kurds to take them over. I want to see Turkish-backed rebels reach Aleppo so that turkey involves directly.

That would prove VERY interesting

What would happen if the Turkish military in Syria came face to face with the jihadists who they had supported and allowed into Syria

[Anthea]

Troops advance in Aleppo, Russia proposes AID corridors

Elite Syrian troops moved into east Aleppo Thursday ahead of a push into the most densely populated areas, as regime ally Russia called for corridors to bring in aid and evacuate wounded.

Despite global criticism including the UN warning Aleppo risked becoming a "giant graveyard", government forces have pressed an assault to retake control of the divided city.

The artillery-backed offensive has spurred an exodus of tens of thousands of residents from the rebel-held east.

It has left Aleppo's streets strewn with the bodies of men, women and children, many lying next to the suitcases they had packed to escape.

Artillery fire continued on Thursday but subsided as heavy rainfall hit the city.

The assault has seen President Bashar al-Assad's forces make significant gains in the past week.

After overrunning the city's northeast, they were in control of 40 percent of the territory once held by opposition forces in Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The regime is tightening the noose on the remaining section of east Aleppo under rebel control," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

He said hundreds of fighters from Syria's elite Republican Guard and Fourth Division arrived in Aleppo on Thursday "in preparation for street battles" in the densely populated southeast.

"They are moving in on the ground, but they are afraid of ambushes because of the density of both residents and fighters," he said.

- Widespread outrage -

The violence in Aleppo has sparked widespread outrage at the regime, but also at its steadfast supporter Moscow.

On Thursday, Russia proposed setting up four humanitarian corridors into east Aleppo to bring in aid and evacuate severely wounded people.

Russia announced "they want to sit down in Aleppo with our people there to discuss how we can use the four (humanitarian) corridors to evacuate people out," Jan Egeland, head of the UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria, told reporters in Geneva.

He said Russia has pledged to respect the corridors, and that "we (the UN) now feel confident that the armed opposition groups will do the same."

Moscow has announced several humanitarian pauses in Aleppo to allow civilians to flee, but until the recent military escalation, only a handful did so.

In Turkey on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had used every opportunity to help civilians, but accused rebels of threatening "to prevent passage of humanitarian convoys and fire on them."

Russia was criticised at Wednesday's UN Security Council meeting on Syria, with British ambassador Matthew Rycroft accusing Moscow of supporting "a deliberate act of starvation and a deliberate withholding of medical care."

Since Saturday more than 50,000 people have poured out of east Aleppo into territory controlled by government forces or local Kurdish authorities, according to the Observatory.

Thousands more have sought refuge in the remaining rebel-held neighbourhoods in southeastern Aleppo, arriving with overpacked suitcases or sometimes just the clothes on their backs.

- Urgent UN appeal -

The loss of east Aleppo -- a rebel stronghold since 2012 -- would be the biggest blow to Syria's opposition in more than five years.

Syrian aircraft have been pounding east Aleppo with air strikes for months -- often using crude munitions like barrel bombs -- but as the ground advance has gathered pace the army has instead turned to more precise artillery.

The effect has been no less devastating.

On Thursday, four children from a single family were killed in artillery fire by regime forces on the rebel-held Maadi neighbourhood of Aleppo, according to the Observatory.

The government's offensive has left 42 children dead, among a total of more than 300 civilians killed since November 15.

Retaliatory rocket fire by the rebels on government-held areas has killed 48 civilians, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which has a wide network of sources on the ground.

The US-led coalition bombing the Islamic State jihadist group in both Syria and neighbouring Iraq said Thursday that 54 civilians had been "inadvertently killed" in seven air strikes between March and October.

The deadliest strike occurred July 18, when coalition aircraft attacked a group of IS fighters near Manbij in northern Syria, killing about 100 of them.

But "up to 24 civilians who had been interspersed with combatants were inadvertently killed in a known (ISIS) staging area where no civilians had been seen in the 24 hours prior to the attack," said the coalition.





Link to Article - Photos:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/ar ... eyard.html

[Anthea]

Aleppo siege: Syria rebels lose 60% of territory

Close to two-thirds of rebel-held areas of east Aleppo have now fallen to the Syrian government after another district was seized.

A UK-based monitor said the Tariq al-Bab district fell on Friday, opening up a link between government-held areas and Aleppo's airport.

Swathes of east Aleppo held by rebels have been seized by government troops and militiamen in the past three weeks.

Some 250,000 people remain trapped in besieged areas of the city.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced. The United Nations this week said conditions in east Aleppo were now so dire that medical operations were being conducted without anaesthetics.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said Tariq al-Bab was recaptured more than four years after falling into rebel hands.

Clashes in the district left tens of fighters on both sides killed or injured, it said.

At least 300 people have been killed since the government-led offensive on east Aleppo,

The BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, who is in west Aleppo, said the seizure of Tariq al-Bab meant that 60% of the areas formerly held by rebels was now in government hands.

Heavy shelling of the east continued throughout the night, she said.

Thousands of people fled Tariq al-Bab into neighbouring areas as fighting intensified.



Earlier this week, Stephen O'Brien, the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, said besieged areas of the city risked becoming "one giant graveyard".

He said some people inside opposition-controlled areas were so hungry they were reduced to scavenging.

On Thursday, Russia, that supports President Bashar al-Assad's government, indicated it was ready to discuss opening four safe corridors for humanitarian access.

Aleppo was once Syria's largest city and its commercial and industrial hub before the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in 2011.

It has been divided in roughly two for the past four years. But in the past 11 months, Syrian troops have broken the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes.

In early September they reinstated a siege of the east, and launched a large-scale offensive later that month to retake full control of the city.

The Syrian Observatory says more than 300 civilians have been killed in rebel-held districts since the offensive was stepped up in mid-November.

Link to Article - Videos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-38194136

[Anthea]

It is disgusting that the poor people of Aleppo were left under the increasingly violent control of jihadist rebels for so many years

We all notice that the term 'rebel groups' is always used to refer to the jihadist groups in Aleppo

Which jihadist groups?

The answer is:

HUNDREDS OF THEM

Ever changing

Ever expanding

Ever forming different allegiances

They did not take over Aleppo overnight

The invasion started with a couple of the most violent groups - the Islamic Front and Al Nustra

NOBODY

made any real attempt to stop this in it's embryonic stages

Over the years these groups have expanded uncontrolled

Virtually enslaving the innocent population

Destroying, what once was a truly beautiful city

THE UN DID NOTHING TO STOP THE GROWTH OF REBEL GROUPS

[Anthea]

Syrian Islamist groups bombed the Kurdish district of Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo city with mortar fire

Militants from the Islamic Movement of Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham have reportedly hit the Kurdish-populated district with dozens of mortar shells and locally-made ‘hell missiles’. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham is an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

“Islamist groups of Ahrar al-Sham and Fateh al-Sham launched the attack from their bases in al-Shaar neighborhood in eastern Aleppo,” human rights activist Mehvan Mirkhan told ARA News in Aleppo. “They hit Sheikh Maqsoud with dozens of mortars and ‘hell missiles’.”

Saturday’s bombardment targeted residential buildings and a security centre for the Kurdish People’s Proection Units (YPG) in Sheikh Maqsoud.

At least five civilians and two YPG members were reported dead in the attack. Also, over ten others were injured and immediately transferred to a local makeshift hospital in the district.

“Some of the injured are in critical condition,” Doctor Mihemed Hamke, the director of a hospital in Sheikh Maqsoud District, told ARA News.

Dr Hamke added that local rescue teams continued to search for victims under the rubble.

Sheikh Maqsoud has been under a partial siege by Syrian Islamists for over three years. Violence has recently intensified in the district as the YPG have tried to establish a buffer zone.

“Armed groups surrounding the Sheikh Maqsoud District of Aleppo city have repeatedly carried out indiscriminate attacks that have struck civilian homes, streets, markets and mosques,” Amnesty International said in an earlier report about developments in the Kurdish district.

Amnesty International added the militants surrounding Sheikh Maqsoud have been “killing and injuring civilians and displaying a shameful disregard for human life.”

Chemical Attacks

On November 25, Syrian Islamist rebels attacked Sheikh Maqsoud District using conventional and chemical weapons. The outlying district is located in northern Aleppo city and is controlled by the YPG.

Militants from Ahrar al-Sham and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham have reportedly shelled the Kurdish enclave with rockets that contained mustard gas.

The chemical barrage killed at least six people, including two children. Also, more than 15 suffocation cases were reported in Sheikh Maqsoud following the attack.

“The wounded were immediately transferred to a makeshift hospital run by the Kurdish Red Crescent in Sheikh Maqsoud,” a local media activist told ARA News.

Doctor Mihemed Hamke said that investigations showed that the victims were exposed to a chemical agent during the shelling on Friday, 25 November, 2016.

“The injured suffered from suffocation, skin burning and vomiting. These are obvious symptoms of exposure to mustard gas,” Dr Hamke told ARA News.

Friday’s attack was not the first time Syrian Islamists have deployed chemical weapons in Sheikh Maqsoud. Analysts believe that the militants may be using the district to field test their strategic weapons.

On March 8, the same groups struck the Kurdish district with a phosphorus agent, causing dozens of civilian casualties. The YPG’s leadership then released a statement, saying that “extremist groups had launched dozens of rockets filled with a yellow phosphorus element.”

Human rights activist Rezan Hiddo has appealed to the international community and human rights organizations to intervene and stop the attacks on Sheikh Maqsoud. He emphasized that the Kurdish district suffers from an acute shortage of medicine.

http://aranews.net/2016/12/islamists-bo ... as-aleppo/

[Piling]

It is disgusting that the poor people of Aleppo were left under the increasingly violent control of jihadist rebels for so many years

We all notice that the term 'rebel groups' is always used to refer to the jihadist groups in Aleppo

Which jihadist groups?

The answer is:

HUNDREDS OF THEM

Ever changing

Ever expanding

Ever forming different allegiances

They did not take over Aleppo overnight

The invasion started with a couple of the most violent groups - the Islamic Front and Al Nustra

NOBODY

made any real attempt to stop this in it's embryonic stages

Over the years these groups have expanded uncontrolled

Virtually enslaving the innocent population

Destroying, what once was a truly beautiful city

THE UN DID NOTHING TO STOP THE GROWTH OF REBEL GROUPS

And what about Bashar Al Asad who, currently, destroyed Aleppo (its hospitals, civilians' places and schools) ? The hugest victims in Syria are Assad and Putin's deeds.

Rebels and Jihadists have nothing as weapons to compare with Syrian army.