Battle for Aleppo threatens to create fresh refugee exodus, says Turkish PM

[IronFist]

Battle for Aleppo threatens to create fresh refugee exodus, says Turkish PM
The life of an ordinary Syrian probably is worse than hell. The longer the war goes on the more refugees come to Europe. Looks like soon there will be not a single Arab left in the country. It's actually fun to see Merkel asking Turkey to secure its borders in exchange of its possible entrance to the EU. I wonder if Turkey accepts Merkel's proposal. It's been a EU member candidate since forever and yet it's so far from entering the EU. I doubt that anyone can really trust Merkel after that refugee crisis she organized.

 

[waltky]

More refugees flee Aleppo...

Syria conflict: 'Thousands flee Aleppo offensive'
19 October 2015 - Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled a government offensive on rebel-held areas south of the city of Aleppo in the past three days, an activist says. Dr Zaidoun al-Zoabi, head of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations, told the BBC that several villages he had visited were empty.

He saw thousands of people on the move, with no shelter or medical support. The government offensive is the latest of at least four launched with Russian air support in the past two weeks. Aside from the Aleppo countryside, they are taking place in mostly rural areas north of the cities of Homs and Hama, and in the north of the coastal province of Latakia. Rebel fighters - not including jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) - had penetrated most of these strategically important areas earlier this year. Their gains prompted Russia to launch an air campaign to bolster President Bashar al-Assad in September, and also reportedly led Iran to deploy hundreds of combat troops. Tehran has previously only acknowledged sending military advisers.

Syrian troops have gone on the attack this month, taking advantage of Russian air strikes​

'Sky filled with jets'

Dr Zoabi told the BBC's Newsday programme that he had seen at least 70,000 people on the move in the countryside south of Aleppo. "We saw only people who do not have even tents, any shelter, whatever. People were asking for some food, sandwiches even," he said. "There is no medical support." "The shelling is so fierce. The sky was filled with jet fighters, with helicopters, and people are terribly scared. They are scared to death." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces, backed by Syrian and Iranian militiamen and fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, had taken control of three hills near the town of Khan Tuman.

Much of Aleppo, once Syria's commercial and industrial hub, has been devastated by fighting

Rebels from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army meanwhile told the Reuters news agency that they had received new supplies of US-made anti-tank missiles since the assault began, though not enough to repel it. The government's forces appear to be pushing towards the motorway that links Aleppo with Latakia and Hama provinces, rebels say. Aleppo is about 50km (30 miles) from the border with Turkey. The city, once Syria's commercial and industrial hub, has been divided in roughly two since 2012, with the government controlling the western half and rebel factions holding the east. On Sunday, Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu warned European leaders that the offensive south of Aleppo, as well as attacks in the area by Islamic State militants, could "cause another wave of refugees".

Turkey's prime minister says the Aleppo offensive could "cause another wave of refugees"

 

[waltky]

Aleppo exempted from local truce...

'Monstrous' violence in Syria as government excludes Aleppo from truce
Fri Apr 29, 2016 - Syria called local truces near Damascus and in a northern province on Friday but no halt to combat on the main battlefield in Aleppo, after a surge in fighting the United Nations said showed "monstrous disregard" for civilian lives.

A new "regime of calm" would begin from 1:00 a.m. on Saturday and last one day in the capital's eastern Ghouta suburb and three days in the northern countryside of the coastal province of Latakia, the army said in a statement. But by excluding the city of Aleppo, scene of the worst recent violence, the narrow truces were unlikely to resurrect a ceasefire and peace talks that have collapsed this week. In the worst recent attack, an air strike destroyed a hospital in a rebel-held area overnight on Wednesday-Thursday. The French charity Medecins sans Frontieres, which supported the hospital, said on Friday the death toll had risen to at least 50, including six medics.

A civilian evacuates a baby from a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria​

A Syrian military source said Aleppo was excluded from the newly announced truces "because in Aleppo there are terrorists who have not stopped hitting the city and its residents ... There are a large number of martyrs in Aleppo which is why the situation is different there". Russia's Interfax news agency quoted the officer in charge of a Russian ceasefire monitoring center as saying the truces meant all military action would cease in the covered areas.

A man reacts as he stands on blood stains at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria​

Damascus described the truces as an attempt to salvage a wider "cessation of hostilities" agreement in place since February. That ceasefire, sponsored by Washington and Moscow, allowed peace talks to start but has all but completely collapsed in recent days along with the Geneva negotiations. Violence was "soaring back to the levels we saw prior to the cessation of hostilities", said the U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein. "There are deeply disturbing reports of military build-ups indicating preparations for a lethal escalation," Zeid said in a statement that described a "monstrous disregard for civilian lives by all parties to the conflict".

"I DREAD MORE HORROR"

See also:

US, UN condemn Syria hospital bombing in war-ravaged Aleppo
Friday 29th April, 2016 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the bombing of a hospital in Syria's northern city of Aleppo and said attacks that target civilians are "inexcusable" violations of humanitarian law. "There must be accountability for these crimes," Ban said in a statement.

The city's last remaining pediatrician and three children were among the 20 people killed in the air strike overnight on Al-Quds hospital, which was supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Ban called on the warring sides to "immediately renew their commitment" to a ceasefire that had been in force since late February. He encouraged the international powers backing Syria's peace process, in particular the United States and Russia, to "ensure credible investigations of incidents such as the attack on Al-Quds hospital." "Instead of bombing civilian areas, all Syrian parties must renew their focus on a political process," he added.

UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien separately appealed to world powers to revive the ceasefire and put an end to the "massive human suffering" in Syria. "We must all be ashamed this is happening on our watch," O'Brien told the Security Council during a meeting on the appalling humanitarian crisis stemming from the five-year war. Five Security Council members -- Egypt, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and Uruguay -- are drafting a new resolution condemning attacks on hospitals in war zones such as Syria, but also Yemen, Afghanistan and South Sudan.

The draft resolution is expected to come up for a vote next week in a move that will send "a very strong message about this issue," said New Zealand's Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen. "We are trying to shine a spotlight on this issue because it's clearly a fundamental problem in the way in which modern warfare is being conducted in these horrible situations," said Bohemen. More than 270,000 people have been killed in Syria and millions forced from their homes since the conflict erupted in 2011.

US UN condemn Syria hospital bombing in war-ravaged Aleppo