Cruel and constant bombing ‘will destroy ancient Aleppo by Christmas’

Parts of Aleppo will be totally destroyed in just ten weeks, the United Nations’ special envoy to Syria has warned. The “cruel, constant” military activity in the east of the city meant that thousands of citizens - not terrorists - were likely to be killed, said Staffan de Mistura. Speaking at a news conference in Geneva, he said: “The bottom line is in a maximum of two months, two-and-a-half months, the city of eastern Aleppo at this rate may be totally destroyed. We are talking about the old city in particular.”

This is what you, we, the world will be seeing when we will be trying to celebrate Christmas, or the end of the year, if this continues at this rate, unimpeded. Homs [Syrian city] multiplied by 50

Staffan de Mistura

HIs remarks underscore the brutality of the fighting in Aleppo, where a besieged population of 275,000 in the eastern, rebel-held part of the city, is in desperate need of aid. He also told reporters there were only 8,000 rebel fighters holed up there — and no more than 900 of them were from the al-Qaida affiliate, Nusra Front. It was a direct challenge to the Russians who say half the fighters are from the group. Meanwhile, Syria’s president Bashar Assad has denied reports his government is targeting hospitals and civilian infrastructure. Mr Assad told a Denmark’s TV station that if his government been “committing all these atrocities,” he could not have remained president.

Middle East