This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/16/horror-has-come-back-to-aleppo-airstrikes-continue-in-rebel-held-east

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
'Horror has come back to Aleppo': airstrikes continue in rebel-held east Children's hospital in Aleppo hit as airstrikes continue
(about 1 hour later)
Jet fighters pounded rebel-held east Aleppo through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, continuing the opening salvo of a long-awaited campaign that Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies hope will crush the opposition in Syria’s former industrial capital. Jet fighters and helicopters bombing east Aleppo hit a children’s hospital on Wednesday morning, destroying sections of the building as medics and patients sheltered in the basement.
Activists, doctors and residents said intense airstrikes on several neighbourhoods in the besieged half of the city, which started on Tuesday, were continuing. Loyalist forces are gearing up for an assault on the city against the backdrop of a changing geopolitical landscape that on Tuesday saw Assad describe Donald Trump as a potential “natural ally” if the American president-elect fulfilled a campaign promise to fight terrorism. An ambulance driver and at least two children were among the dead after a night of fierce attacks on rebel-held sections of Syria’s largest city.
A text message from a nurse in east Aleppo said: “The bombing is continuing in all the areas.” The assault, which continued into the morning, is widely believed to mark the start of a push by President Bashar al-Assad and his backers, including Russia and Iran, to crush the opposition in their last urban stronghold.
Doctors said an ambulance driver had been killed in the airstrikes, and that many people were under the rubble after a bombardment that included “barrel bombs”, largely inaccurate cylinders packed with explosives dropped from helicopters and usually targeting civilian areas. Residents sent audio messages with sounds of intense bombardment and shelling. “A horrible day for the children’s hospital. Me and my staff and all the patients are sitting in one room in the basement right now, trying to protect our patients,” the centre’s director, Dr Hatem, said in a message posted on Facebook.
“Horror is back to Aleppo,” said Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, a teacher in the city, in a text message. “We are trying to leave the basement but we can’t because of all the aircraft still in the sky. Pray for us please.”
Russia has denied involvement in the air raids so far on the city, but said it had launched major missile strikes and bombing raids from its aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is stationed off the Syrian coast, on the provinces of Idlib and Homs on Tuesday. The aircraft carrier’s arrival in a highly publicised trip was heralded as signifying the start of the campaign to reclaim Aleppo. The children’s hospital, which carries out around 4,000 consultations a month, was one of six medical centres bombed in Syria over the last 48 hours, according to a charity that supports them.
Aleppo was once Syria’s largest city and its cultural and commercial hub, but whole districts have been virtually abandoned over years of intense street fighting, and many parts of the east have been bombed into rubble. It is also being starved by a slowly tightening siege, broken only briefly in the summer. “Like all the surrounding hospitals in eastern Aleppo, it has been hit multiple times this year alone, putting 2016 on track to becoming the worst year of hospital attacks on record,” the Independent Doctors Association said.
A semblance of normal life continues in west Aleppo. Regaining full control of the city would be a huge boost for forces loyal to Assad for its symbolic value and because it is the only key urban area still controlled by the opposition. The targeting of civilians and medics in Aleppo in particular have fuelled international outrage and growing pressure on Damascus to halt the bombing.
Assad’s forces, backed by Iranian and other Shia militias and Russian air power, have used a policy of bombing the opposition to the negotiating table, while starving the communities that support them into surrender. But opposition forces are now bracing for an intensified campaign on the city, against the backdrop of a geopolitical landscape dramatically changed by the election of Donald Trump as the next US president.
They appear to be deploying the same tactics in Aleppo, where the scale of suffering has provoked international outrage and pressure to end the attacks in recent weeks. On Tuesday Assad described Trump as a potential “natural ally” if the president-elect fulfilled a campaign promise to fight terrorism.
Iranian-backed militias have been amassing along the frontline for weeks, the likely spearhead of a ground assault that will involve gruelling urban combat. Doctors said an ambulance driver had been killed in the airstrikes, and many people were under the rubble after a bombardment that included “barrel bombs” – cylinders packed with explosives dropped often inaccurately from helicopters and usually targeting civilian areas.
The situation in Aleppo, deadlock that has lasted years, has long been seen as a bellwether for the broader civil war in Syria, and the current onslaught is within the context of surging momentum for the Assad regime after Moscow’s intervention in the war last year. “Horror is back to Aleppo,” said Abdulkafi al-Hamdo, a teacher in the city, in a text message. Audio recording from inside the city captured the sounds of intense bombardment and shelling.
The opposition also fears that a Trump administration will abandon America’s covert but limited support for the rebellion, allowing the Kremlin a free hand to crush it. Trump said during the election campaign that he intended to focus on destroying Islamic State. Russia has denied involvement in the air raids so far on the city, but said it had launched missile strikes and bombing raids on the provinces of Idlib and Homs on Tuesday from its aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is stationed off the Syrian coast. The aircraft carrier’s arrival in a highly publicised trip was heralded as signifying the start of the campaign to reclaim Aleppo.
Whole districts of a city that was once Syria’s most vibrant have been virtually abandoned over years of intense street fighting, and many parts of the east have been bombed to rubble. Opposition areas are being starved by a slowly tightening siege.
A semblance of normal life continues in west Aleppo and regaining full control of the city would be a huge boost for forces loyal to Assad, for its symbolic value and because it is the only key urban area still controlled by the opposition.
Assad’s forces, backed by Iranian and other Shia militias and Russian air power, have used a policy of bombing the opposition to the negotiating table while starving the communities that support them into surrender in several Syrian cities. They appear to be deploying the same tactics in Aleppo.
The situation in Aleppo has long been seen as a bellwether for the broader civil war in Syria, and the current onslaught is within the context of surging momentum for the Assad regime after Moscow’s intervention in the war last year.
The opposition also fears that the Trump administration will abandon America’s covert but limited support for the rebellion, allowing the Kremlin a free hand to crush it. Trump said during the election campaign that he intended to focus on destroying Islamic State.
In his first reaction to Trump’s election victory, Assad struck a cautious note, saying the president-elect would be a natural ally if he sought to combat terrorists, an epithet that the Syrian president uses to describe all of the opposition.In his first reaction to Trump’s election victory, Assad struck a cautious note, saying the president-elect would be a natural ally if he sought to combat terrorists, an epithet that the Syrian president uses to describe all of the opposition.
“We cannot tell anything about what he’s going to do, but if … he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be ally, natural ally in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries,” he told Portugal’s RTP state television. “We cannot tell anything about what he’s going to do, but if … he is going to fight the terrorists, of course we are going to be ally, natural ally, in that regard with the Russian, with the Iranian, with many other countries,” he told Portugal’s RTP state television, speaking in English.
“I would say this is promising, but can he deliver?” said Assad, who was speaking in English. “I would say this is promising, but can he deliver?” Assad added.