Aleppo battle: Rebels on brink amid rapid losses

Source: BBC News:

December 12, 2016 at 11:31

Syrian government forces have made major gains in southern Aleppo, state media and activists say, leaving rebels with only a small pocket in the city.

"The battle is at its end," Lt Gen Zaid al-Saleh of the Syrian army said.

An English teacher in the rebel-held enclave told the BBC that people there were facing "doomsday".

The rebels have now lost more than 90% of the territory they once held in eastern Aleppo in less than a month. Tens of thousands remain trapped there.

They have virtually no food or water.

While many civilians have fled from the enclave into government-held areas, others say they fear they would be killed if they put themselves in the hands of the authorities.

Russia, which backs the Syrian government, says more than 100,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting - including 13,300 in the past 24 hours - and that 2,200 rebel fighters have surrendered.

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

Media captionAbdul Kafi Alhamado, an English teacher, says it is "Doomsday" in rebel-held Aleppo

For much of the past four years it has been divided roughly in two, with the government controlling the western half and rebels the east.

Troops finally broke the deadlock with the help of Iranian-backed militias and Russian air strikes, reinstating a siege on the east in early September and launching an all-out assault weeks later.

Smoke rises as seen from a rebel-held area of Aleppo, Syria December 12, 2016 — REUTERS
Aerial bombardment of rebel-held areas apparently continued on Monday

Syrian residents flee violence in Aleppo's eastern al-Saliheen neighbourhood on December 12, 2016 after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters. — AFP
These residents were leaving their homes in Saliheen district after it was retaken

Troops and allied militiamen took full control of the districts of Sheikh Saeed and Saliheen on Monday.

UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the army was on the verge of re-taking all of the east of the city and that rebels had withdrawn from another six neighbourhoods.

The group's director, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP news agency that the areas still under rebel control were "very small" and that "they could fall at any moment".

Map showing control of Aleppo (12 December 2016)

"The battle for Aleppo has begun to enter the final phase," he said.

In an interview with the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, English teacher Abdul Kafi Alhamado, who is still inside one of the remaining rebel-held areas, described the conditions as terrible.

"The situation inside the eastern part of Aleppo is literally doomsday," he said. "Bombs are everywhere, people are running, people are injured in the streets, no-one can dare go to help them, some people are under the rubble."

Men, who were evacuated from the eastern districts of Aleppo, stand in line while being prepared to begin their military service at a government military police centre in Aleppo, Syria December 11, 2016. — REUTERS
These men, evacuated from rebel-held districts, are being prepared to begin military service

Women react as they wait outside a government military police centre to visit their relatives, who were evacuated from the eastern districts of Aleppo and are being prepared to begin their military service, in Aleppo, Syria December 11, 2016 — REUTERS
Anxious relatives wait outside the government's military police centre in Aleppo

Russia has said it is consulting the United States, which backs the opposition, on the terms of a ceasefire that would follow a full withdrawal of rebel fighters from Aleppo. However, there have been no signs of an agreement so far.

"The Russians are being evasive. They are looking at the military situation. Now they are advancing," Zakaria Malahifji, an official in the Fastaqim rebel group, told Reuters news agency.

The Syrian Observatory says that at least 415 civilians and 364 rebel fighters have been killed in rebel-held areas since 15 November. Another 130 civilians have died in rebel rocket and mortar attacks on the government-controlled west.