The civil defense in rebel-held eastern Aleppo said that at least 2,000 airstrikes and 7,000 artillery shells have hit besieged eastern parts of the city in the past 13 days. Cruise missiles as well as internationally banned weapons, such as cluster bombs and chlorine gas, have been used in the ongoing bombing campaign by the Assad regime and Russian forces.
In a statement released on Monday, the civil defense corps, also known as the White Helmets, said that all hospitals in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo were put out of service. Rescue workers have lost more than half of their equipment and vehicles as they are being deliberately targeted by the Assad regime warplanes “while rescuing the wounded and recovering people stuck under the rubble in line of their humanitarian duty.”
The Assad regime and Russian air forces continue to target vital civilian infrastructure and facilities such as power and water stations as well as bakeries, hospitals, and civil defense centers in Aleppo and its countryside as part of the brutal onslaught they launched on November 15. Russia deployed many pieces of its naval fleet off the Syrian coast in preparation of the bombing campaign on Aleppo.
The eastern part of Aleppo, Syria’s second largest city, is under a tight siege by the Assad regime and its allied foreign militias. Over 279,000 people, mostly women and children, have been under siege for 94 days now.
The statement said that at least 35 people are buried under the rubble because civil defense teams have not been able to reach them since Sunday.
Rescue workers also said they have exhausted their fuel reserves, warning that all fuel remaining in their vehicles and equipment will run out within two days. Rescue workers also lost equipment and vehicles used to rescue civilians from under the rubble of bombed buildings.
Aleppo civil defense corps declared Aleppo a disaster area as the ferocious bombing raids by the Assad regime and Russian forces continue unabated for the 13th consecutive day.
The statement warned of an imminent humanitarian disaster in besieged areas. “These civilians have no access to basic food materials and medicines…Moreover, the available houses or shelters are not adequate to accommodate and protect them.”
Aleppo’s civil defense called on all humanitarian, aid and medical organizations to immediately intervene to put an end to the humanitarian disaster affecting civilians in the besieged neighborhoods. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)
