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Amid Rain of Shells, Aleppo’s Civilians Offer ‘Final Scream’ Amid Rain of Shells, Aleppo’s Civilians Offer ‘Final Scream’
(about 4 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Artillery shelling by pro-government forces resumed early Wednesday on besieged eastern neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Aleppo, delaying the evacuation of thousands of civilians and fighters who had expected to leave under a deal involving Russia and Turkey. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Families, medical workers, insurgent fighters and wounded people were packed and ready Wednesday morning to vacate the ravaged rebel-held neighborhoods of the Syrian city of Aleppo under a deal between Russia and Turkey. Then the resumed booms of incoming artillery shells from pro-government forces sent them into hiding or running for their lives.
It was the latest, bitter whiplash for those trapped in the shrinking rebel-held districts of the ruined city. Under a supposed deal announced on Tuesday by Turkey, Russia and Syrian rebels, the last remaining fighters were to evacuate to rebel-held territory farther north and civilians were free to join them or to move to government-held areas. The whole city of Aleppo then would be in the hands of forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. It was the latest life-or-death whiplash for the thousands trapped in the ruins of a once-vibrant northern metropolis, which has come to symbolize the atrocities unfolding in the nearly six-year-old war.
“The Syrian government has a clear responsibility to ensure its people are safe and is palpably failing to take this opportunity to do so,” the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said in a statement on Wednesday. He asserted that the resumed bombardment was “a violation of international law and most likely constitutes war crimes.” Under the supposed deal for a cease-fire and evacuation — announced on Tuesday by Turkey, Russia and Syrian rebels — the remaining fighters were to leave Aleppo for rebel-held territory farther north and civilians were free to join them or move to government-held areas.
“The way this deal was dangled in front of this battered and beleaguered population — causing them to hope they might indeed live to see another day — and then snatched away just half a day later is also outrageously cruel,” his statement said. That outcome would leave the whole city in the hands of forces loyal to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
A radiology nurse in Aleppo, Mohamed al-Ahmad, said he hoped the world would hear “our final scream from the last free neighborhoods in Aleppo.” The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, denounced the resumed shelling, calling it a probable war crime.
He said he had lost faith as the deal to evacuate the last pockets of opposition-controlled areas had fallen apart. “The agreement has been broken,” he said on Wednesday via the messaging app Viber. “Hundreds of shells have fallen on us. People who were supposed to leave were attacked.” “The way this deal was dangled in front of this battered and beleaguered population — causing them to hope they might indeed live to see another day — and then snatched away just half a day later is also outrageously cruel,” Mr. al-Hussein said in a statement.
The lack of medical care and rescue services is so dire, he added, “that people are bleeding to death in the streets.” “The Syrian government has a clear responsibility to ensure its people are safe, and is palpably failing to take this opportunity to do so,” he said.
Malek, an activist who said he hoped to join his pregnant wife in northern Aleppo Province, and who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being killed, said that “the scenes are unbearable.” He added: “I would say that life is becoming harder than death. People are dying for nothing, without any justification. Humans are no longer human.” As each side blamed the other for the deal’s collapse, civilians inside the city issued anguished, angry pleas for international pressure to reinstate it. The Assad government and Iran, Syria’s other main ally besides Russia, appeared not to have been fully consulted on the deal, according to international officials and others briefed on the talks, and were insisting on new conditions.
Interviewed over the messaging service WhatsApp, he added, using a mournful expression, “We didn’t taste the flavor of life.” Rebel groups outside the city resumed shelling government-held districts in Aleppo. Civilians in other rebel-held areas to the north protested against their leaders and ransacked posts of hard-line rebel groups, demanding they help those in Aleppo.
On Wednesday, buses that were to evacuate some of the last holdouts in the heavily bombed neighborhoods left, empty, after waiting for hours, according to Al Manar, the television channel of the militant Shiite group Hezbollah. Close to midnight Wednesday, rebel groups announced a new deal for another evacuation attempt on Thursday. Trapped civilians expressed disbelief, and the Syrian military denied that another deal had been reached.
The Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen showed buses idling at a prearranged evacuation point, waiting to take 5,000 fighters and their families to Atareb, a town west of Aleppo, with thousands more civilians to follow. But the buses left when it became clear that there would be no evacuation. But by early Thursday the shelling had tapered off, residents reported, hoping the pause would hold.
Osama Abu Zayd, a legal adviser to Syrian opposition factions, told The Associated Press that the evacuation deal was being resisted by Iran’s field commander in Syria. Opposition leaders and civilians inside Aleppo said they believed that Iran — a major ally of the Syrian government — had balked at the deal, annoyed that Russia and Turkey had not consulted it. As the shelling escalated Wednesday morning, a radiology nurse in Aleppo, Mohamed al-Ahmad, said he hoped the world would hear “our final scream,” adding that the wounded, with rescue and medical services in disarray, were bleeding to death in the streets.
Witnesses said pro-government militias had prevented a convoy of about 70 wounded people — mostly fighters and their relatives — from departing. The militias, observers said, insisted that they would not allow anyone out until rebel groups had ended their siege of Fouaa and Kfarya, two encircled Shiite enclaves in Idlib Province. Yasser, an accountant volunteering in a makeshift medical clinic, posted a photograph via WhatsApp of an injured girl lying on a hallway floor. She was 10, he said, with broken bones, and was crying and shouting: “Get me out of Aleppo. I am afraid, I am cold. My back is hurting me. Where is the doctor?”
The Russian Defense Ministry blamed the rebels for the impasse, saying on Wednesday that they had “resumed the hostilities” at dawn, trying to break through Syrian government positions to the northwest. Yasser, who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being arrested for contacting journalists, said in frustration, “Let us leave — what is happening?”
The impasse could be the sign of a stalling tactic by Mr. Assad. His government has often skillfully played its backers — Iran, Russia and others — against one another. The disagreement could provide cover for what the Syrian government has wanted to do all along: finish off the enclave with force. As one Syrian military officer told Reuters in Aleppo recently, rebels must “surrender or die.” Problems with the deal had been evident from the start. Soon after it was announced Tuesday night, Syrian officials said they had no knowledge of it, and there was no word from Iran.
On Wednesday, Russian television broadcast an interview with Mr. Assad in which he reiterated his description of President-elect Donald J. Trump as a prospective ally, given Mr. Trump’s call for the United States not to interfere in other countries’ affairs, and to place fighting terrorism above human rights and the promotion of democracy. Then, around 1 a.m. Wednesday, a convoy of vans carrying dozens of wounded people, including fighters and their families, began making its way out of Aleppo.
“If Trump can overcome all these obstacles and genuinely fight against terrorism, I believe, he will become our natural ally — and yours, too,” Mr. Assad said. But the vans returned soon after, witnesses said, after Iranian-backed militiamen blocked the way and said they did not have Syrian government permission.
Troubles carrying out the accord were not surprising, as there was no international monitoring — United Nations officials said the Syrian government had refused their repeated pleas to observe the process — and no mechanism to enforce the agreement. That has been a problem with other deals reached during the conflict. The militiamen said they would not allow anyone out until rebel groups had ended their siege of Fouaa and Kfarya, two encircled Shiite enclaves in Idlib Province. Residents said they were told they could leave at 6 a.m., but as buses idled, the shelling resumed.
At the United Nations on Tuesday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said there had been “credible reports” of atrocities, including extrajudicial killings, while eastern Aleppo was retaken. Opposition leaders and civilians inside Aleppo said they believed that Iran had balked at a deal brokered by Russia. Osama Abu Zayd, a legal adviser to Syrian opposition factions, told The Associated Press that Iran’s field commander in Syria was resisting it.
Mr. Ban said the world body had been unable to verify the reports, however, because the Syrian government had repeatedly denied United Nations staff members the access required to monitor the evacuations and to aid civilians. The interests of Mr. Assad’s two main backers, Russia and Iran, do not always dovetail. Iran has a stake in retaining the influence it gained by entering the conflict on behalf of Mr. Assad two years before Russia.
“As the battle for Aleppo concludes, I call on the Syrian authorities and their allies, Russia and Iran, to honor their obligations under international humanitarian law and do the following: urgently allow the remaining civilians to escape the area and facilitate access for all humanitarian actors and the delivery of critically important assistance,” he said. “The laws of war and universal human rights must be respected.” Iran has trained, backed and financed the pro-government militias that have bolstered Syrian ground forces, with recruits from Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries, as well as Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group.
Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, directed her remarks at officials of Syria, Iran and Russia, asking on Tuesday, “Is there literally nothing that can shame you?” Yasser, the accountant, said civilians in Aleppo did not approve of rebel shelling of civilians in Fouaa and Kfarya. “We are humans,” he said. “They are not our enemies. They are civilians like us.”
Her Russian counterpart, Vitaly I. Churkin, retorted that Ms. Power spoke as if she were Mother Teresa. He said that Russia had investigated claims of “ill treatment” of civilians and had found “not a single fact.” The Russian Defense Ministry blamed the rebels for the impasse, saying on Wednesday that they had “resumed the hostilities” at dawn, trying to break through Syrian government positions to the northwest. Residents questioned why rebels inside eastern Aleppo would start shooting again when they were about to escape.
In eastern Aleppo, residents expressed alarm as Russian news agencies broadcast remarks from the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, who said he expected the rebels to “stop their resistance within two, three days.” Those remarks concerned observers, as the evacuation deal says rebels had already agreed to stop fighting in exchange for being allowed to leave. Later, negotiators said the Syrian government was asking for the release of prisoners and the bodies of dead soldiers, and for rebels to hand over fighters from the Qaeda-linked Levant Conquest Front.
“They are planning to slaughter us all,” said Monther Etaky, a civilian activist who said he had been hoping to evacuate. Government opponents also said they suspected Mr. Assad of stalling. His government has often skillfully played its backers against one another. The wrangling could provide cover to finish off Aleppo’s last rebel enclave with force. As one Syrian military officer told Reuters in Aleppo recently, rebels must “surrender or die.”
Salem, a dentist who had kept his clinic open until last week, and who finally moved to one of the last rebel neighborhoods when his own was taken by government forces, said he could hear heavy shelling. Troubles carrying out the accord were not surprising, as there was no international monitoring — United Nations officials said the Syrian government had refused their repeated pleas to observe — and no enforcement provision. The same problems have vexed other deals reached during the conflict.
“We slept a quiet night, but sadly the shelling is back,” he said Wednesday morning, asking to be identified only by his first name. “Please share my message: The cease-fire collapsed. The situation is bad again.” Malek, an activist who said he hoped to join his pregnant wife in northern Aleppo Province, and who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of retaliation, said the world saw civilians in rebel-held territory as “no longer human.”
“They think we are Daesh,” he said via WhatsApp, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State, the militant group that has established a so-called caliphate in parts of Syria but not in Aleppo.
Using a mournful expression, he added, “we didn’t taste the flavor of life.”
At the United Nations on Tuesday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said there had been “credible reports” of atrocities, including extrajudicial killings, as eastern Aleppo was retaken.
Russia categorically denied the reports, and Mr. Ban said the world body had been unable to verify them.
Dr. Salem Abou Al-Nasr, a dentist who had kept his clinic open until last week but finally moved to one of the last rebel neighborhoods when his was taken by government forces, said Wednesday morning that he could hear heavy shelling.
“We slept a quiet night, but sadly the shelling is back,” he said.
Later, Dr. Abou Al-Nasr posted a video on Facebook calling for global powers to intervene to push through a deal.
“The situation can’t wait,” he said. “Everyone should know, we, the people here, we love life and want to live.”
The evacuation plan came after two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian Army and its allies, who drove insurgents into an ever-smaller pocket of eastern Aleppo, with support from heavy airstrikes and artillery fire.The evacuation plan came after two weeks of rapid advances by the Syrian Army and its allies, who drove insurgents into an ever-smaller pocket of eastern Aleppo, with support from heavy airstrikes and artillery fire.
Rebel groups have received support from Turkey, the United States and Persian Gulf states, but far less than the direct military aid that Iran and Russia have provided to Mr. Assad.Rebel groups have received support from Turkey, the United States and Persian Gulf states, but far less than the direct military aid that Iran and Russia have provided to Mr. Assad.