https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/13/red-cross-urgent-plea-to-save-civilians-aleppo-syria
Aleppo civilians 'shot on the spot' by pro-regime forces - UN
Human rights spokesman describes ‘complete meltdown of humanity’ as troops loyal to Syrian president close in on last opposition-held areas
Smoke rises as seen from a government-held area of Aleppo. Photograph: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters
Kareem Shaheen in Istanbul
Tuesday 13 December 2016 10.26 GMTFirst published on Tuesday 13 December 2016 08.42 GMT
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Pro-Syrian regime forces have been entering homes in the last remaining rebel strongholds in eastern
Aleppo and killing civilians “on the spot”, the UN has said.
There were reports of 82 civilians killed across four different neighbourhoods, Rupert Colville, a UN human rights spokesman, said, describing what looked like a “complete meltdown of humanity” in the city.
Unverified reports of extrajudicial killings by forces loyal to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad as well as mass detentions and arrests have surfaced in recent days. In one image circulated by a pro-government parliamentarian, dozens of Syrian men and boys from east Aleppo stand in a detention camp in front of Syrian army soldiers.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were corpses abandoned in the city streets with residents too terrified by the shelling to bury them. “Real massacres” were taking place in the city, the war monitor said.
The Red Cross has urgently appealed for civilians in east Aleppo to be protected “before it is too late”, adding that it was ready to help with evacuations if an agreement can be reached as Assad’s forces close in on remaining opposition enclaves.
“We need to act now,” said Pawel Krzysiek, the head of communications at the international committee of the Red Cross, who is in Aleppo. “We need to depoliticise the process of protecting civilians. We need to put their lives first. And we need to do it now before it is not too late.
“We are ready to implement any provision of any agreement between the parties for the sake of civilians. This is our role as neutral intermediary and we are on standby. But we are also running out of time here and we need to act before it is too late so we can save the lives of civilians that still can be saved.”
Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped in a shrinking patch of opposition territory in east Aleppo, weeks into an offensive led by Assad’s military and Iranian-backed militias, and supported by Russian airpower, that has brought the Syrian strongman within reach of a key victory in the war.
People in east Aleppo, who
have issued distress calls and appeals to the international community to rescue them from retribution, continued to post farewell messages overnight and into Tuesday morning, predicting they would either die by the ongoing bombardment or be tortured and killed if they surrendered.
“Please just tell our stories to the world, please let my son be proud of his father,” said one resident of east Aleppo in a text message.
A doctor described the situation as “beyond a tragedy”, with corpses in the street and people attempting to flee to government-held areas as a result of hunger and cold.
“We are besieged from all sides and death is coming from the air,” he said. “Remember that there was once a city called Aleppo that the world erased from the camp and from history. This is a farewell message [from a doctor] whose fate along with that of his companions is death or arrest at any moment.”
One resident said the airstrikes had subsided by Tuesday morning due to lower visibility and rain, offering a brief respite to civilians who were still on the move and seeking shelter in the rebel districts. Some of those attempting to find shelter away from the frontlines were carrying blood and IV drips as they marched through rebel-held districts, another resident said.
On Monday evening the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, expressed “grave concern” over reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children.
In a statement, Ban stressed the obligation of all parties “to protect civilians and abide by international humanitarian and human rights law. This is particularly the responsibility of the Syrian government and its allies”.
The UN humanitarian adviser on
Syria, Jan Egeland, said the Syrian and Russian governments must be held responsible for any atrocities committed by militias loyal to Assad.
The Syrian army and its allies are in the “last moments before declaring victory” in Aleppo, a Syrian military source told Reuters, after rebel defences collapsed on Monday, leaving insurgents in a tiny, heavily bombarded pocket of ground.
The bombardment of rebel areas of the city continued nonstop on Monday during the day in what residents called a “Doomsday” scenario.
“The battle in eastern Aleppo should end quickly. They [rebels] don’t have much time. They either have to surrender or die,” Lieut Gen Zaid al-Saleh, the head of the government’s Aleppo security committee, told reporters in the recaptured Sheikh Saeed district of the city.
The ICRC said: “Thousands of civilians’ lives are in danger as frontlines close in around them in eastern Aleppo. As the battle reaches new peaks and the area is plunged into chaos, thousands with no part in the violence have literally nowhere safe to run.
“A deepening humanitarian catastrophe and further loss of life can be averted only if the basic rules of warfare – and of humanity – are applied.”
