13 people - including nine children - die in fighting in Aleppo

[rooster59]

13 people - including nine children - die in fighting in Aleppo

 

 

Heavy fighting is continuing around the Syrian city of Aleppo and its neighbouring provinces.

 

Video footage released by the Syrian government appears to show heavy fighting in the 1070 region of Aleppo, including government tanks shelling groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

 

The rebels have launched a counter-offensive, clashing with government forces on a number of fronts in a renewed attempt to break the siege in the city’s east.

 

How many have died?

 

Quoting human rights activists, the AFP news agency says 13 civilians, nine of whom were children, perished in air raids on rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Friday.

 

The deaths are said to have occurred in the neighbourhoods of Marje and Hamadaniye.

 

Aleppo – five facts

 

Syria’s strategically-important second city

Divided in 2012 into rebel and government-held areas

Rebel-held eastern areas under siege from government forces

Rebel counter-offensive launched on July 31

250,000 believed to be trapped in the eastern sectors of the city

The city and province of Aleppo have been among the areas hardest hit by intensifying violence after peace efforts earlier this year failed and a ceasefire crumbled.

 

Government forces and their allies, with Russian backing, have advanced in recent months and imposed a siege on the rebel-held sector of the city since early July, when the main exit road from opposition areas was closed.

 

Since 31 July, at least 115 civilians have been killed in attacks in Aleppo. 35 of them were children.

 

Homs

 

Amateur video footage also published on Friday showed large clouds of smoke rising from the Talbiseh and Al-Rastan areas in the district of Homs.

 

Homs was one of the Syrian cities where the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad first turned into an armed insurgency.

 

It has been bombarded on an almost-daily basis since then.

 

Efforts to restore parts of Homs began in July as part of a million-dollar project funded by the UN Development Programme (UNDP)

 

What the politicians say

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told US Secretary of State John Kerry that the fight against extremist groups in Syria must be stepped up because they are using poison gas on civilians.

 

The Russian foreign ministry says Lavrov and Kerry discussed the Syria conflict in a telephone call.

 

The two men spoke a day after Moscow sharply criticised US behaviour in Syria, accusing Washington of backing rebels who use poison gas against civilians and of killing hundreds in air strikes.

 

 

-- © Copyright Euronews 2016-08-06

[Rancid]

Has any city even been retaken without significant loss of life. I suppose for the Syrians there its about hunker down and just hope for the best. My understanding is that almost anything is preferable to life under ISIS mongrels.

[craigt3365]

16 hours ago, Rancid said:

Has any city even been retaken without significant loss of life. I suppose for the Syrians there its about hunker down and just hope for the best. My understanding is that almost anything is preferable to life under ISIS mongrels.

Perhaps if Assad stepped down and allowed free and fair elections this humanitarian disaster would stop?  He created the vacuum for ISIS.  Weak and unsupported leadership is what they look for.

 

Let's not forget how this all started. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syrian_civil_war#Protests.2C_civil_uprising.2C_and_defections_.28January.E2.80.93July_2011.29
 

Quote

 

The protests started on 15 March 2011, when protesters marched in the capital of Damascus, demanding democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners. The security forces retaliated by opening fire on the protesters,^[139] and according to witnesses who spoke to the BBC, the government forces detained six of them.^[140] The protest was triggered by the arrest of a boy and his friends by the government for writing in graffiti, "The people want the fall of the regime", in the city of Daraa.^[139][141] Louai al-Hussein, an analyst and writer wrote that "Syria is now on the map of countries in the region with an uprising", referencing the Arab Spring which was concurrently starting.^[141] On 20 March, the protesters burned down a Ba'ath Party headquarters and "other buildings". The ensuing clashes claimed the lives of seven police officers^[142] and 15 protesters.^[143] Ten days later in a speech, President Bashar al-Assad blamed "foreign conspirators" pushing Israeli propaganda for the protests.^[144]

 

The protesters' demands until 7 April were predominantly democratic reforms, release of political prisoners, more freedom, abolition of the emergency law and an end to corruption.

 

 

The last sentence seems reasonable.  Unless you are a corrupt and maniacal dictator...