Many of the remaining Armenians in Aleppo want to leave Syria but are unable to do so for financial reasons, said a family that has just arrived in Armenia yesterday.
Kohar Galustian, her husband John and their two toddlers fled to Lebanon before flying to Yerevan via Dubai with the help of an Armenian charity. She said that the couple decided to emigrate after the last rocket fire Friday destroyed their house (…)
Aleppo-Armenians desperate to move to Yerevan, ask for help
Aleppo Compatriotic Charitable Organization has officially asked for help from Armenia and Diaspora-based benefactors in taking Aleppo-Armenians out of war-torn Syria.
According to the organization, 600 hundred letters from families in Aleppo have already been received, asking for help to reach Armenia.
Given security concerns, those people will first be moved to Lebanon by land to later be transferred to Armenia by air.
In a statement Thursday, October 6, the NGO called on the philanthropists to help those displaced reach Armenia from Lebanon.
According to the organization, each of the Armenians needs $500 for the trip.
Aleppo, including the Armenian districts there, have repeatedly fallen under missile and rocket attacks over the past five years. Dozens of Armenians have been killed, hundreds more wounded so far.
The Syrian army takes control of a rebel district of Aleppo
The Syrian army took control Tuesday of a rebellious neighborhood near the citadel in the center of Aleppo, said a military source.
“The army has taken full control of Farafira district, northwest of Aleppo Citadel, after controlling for several terrorist and engineer units are in the process of clearing the area,” the source added to AFP.
In the phraseology of the regime, the terrorist word applies to all those who took up arms against the authorities, be they rebels or jihadists. Farafira the neighborhood had been taken by the rebels in 2012, when they had conquered half of the former economic capital.
“This operation is part of the military operations that were announced (Thursday) that includes an air component and a component on the ground with use of artillery,” the official added. It follows several days of intense bombing by the air forces of the regime and Russia over the rebel area.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com
Stéphane © armenews.com
Battle for Aleppo: Turkey’s-Backed Rebels Shut Off Water for 1.5 Million Syrian Civilians
AFP Photo
The so-called “moderate” rebels turned off the water to 1.5 million civilians living in West Aleppo in retaliation for a Syrian Army airstrike on East Aleppo that allegedly left 250,000 residents without water setting the stage for an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
The city of Aleppo is “dying” according to United Nations officials after a fierce wave of bombing last night by the Syrian Army in an attempt to break the stalemate in what once was the economic capital of the country but is now left to rubble after years of combat between the Assad government and rebels.
Last night’s airstrikes according to early reporting by the United Nations left 115 dead as hostilities have intensified following the collapse of the ceasefire earlier this week resulting in large part from a US-led coalition airstrike on a Syrian Army base in Deir Ez-Zor that left 62 dead and hundreds injured “paving the way” for a major offensive by Daesh (ISIS) terrorists and over 300 ceasefire violations by the rebels.
The rebels signaled in the day before the ceasefire that they would not comply with the agreement brokered by the United States and Russia with the second largest rebel group Ahrar al-Sham even saying that it was “impossible” for the group to breakaway from al-Nusra Front terrorists (formerly Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate prior to a rebranding effort) because the two groups had become too entangled fighting under the common banner of the Army of Conquest.
With hopes for peace on hold Syrian airstrikes have escalated which the rebels claim undermined attempts to repair a water pump supplying rebel-held districts in East Aleppo with water allegedly blocking the flow of the vital resource to some 250,000 residents. In an act of reprisal, the rebels switched off the Suleiman al-Halabi pumping station that provides water to 1.5 million Syrian civilians in government controlled West Aleppo raising the possibility of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in what has already turned into the largest displacement of civilians in human history. Kieran Dwyer, spokesman for the UN Children’s Rights & Emergency Relief Organization (UNICEF) explained that the Bab al-Nairab pumping station supplying rebel-held parts of Aleppo was allegedly damaged on Thursday and subsequent strikes rendered repairs impossible. “Then in retaliation for that attack a nearby pumping station that pumps water to the entire western part of the city – upwards to 1.5 million people – was deliberately switched off,” said Dwyer.
UNICEF fears that families in West Aleppo will be forced to use contaminated liquid carrying waterborne diseases to which children are particularly vulnerable as a result of the intentional act of terroristic sabotage by the rebels in contravention of international humanitarian standards.
“Aleppo is slowly dying, and the world is watching, and the water is being cut off and bombed – it’s just the latest act of inhumanity,” said UNICEF Deputy Director Justin Forsyth.
Syrian Govn’t, Russia tighten siege on Aleppo
Rebel-held districts of the northern Syrian city have again come under intense air and artillery fire. Syria’s army has also seized ground north of Aleppo following the collapse of the latest ceasefire.
At least 25 civilians were killed during renewed airstrikes on Aleppo early on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group.
The fierce aerial bombardment from Russian and Syrian warplanes has toppled several buildings in the besieged northern Syrian city.
The monitors warned that the death toll was likely to rise because a number of people remained trapped under rubble.
“There are planes in the sky now,” Ammar al Selmo, the head of the Civil Defense rescue service in the opposition-held east, told the Reuters news agency on Saturday morning.
Harrowing scenes
A correspondent for the French news agency Agence France-Presse described one airstrike, at a market in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood, which left seven people dead and multiple body parts strewn at the site.
Medics said that they were carrying out many amputations to try to save the wounded and that supplies of blood and IV drips were running out.
Syrian forces and allied militia pushed on with their latest ground offensive following the failure of a US-Russian brokered ceasefire on Monday.
Analysts said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s decision to launch an all-out assault on the last big urban area still in rebel hands marked a turning point in a conflict that was stalemated for years. Around 250,000 civilians are thought to remain trapped in eastern districts.
On Friday, at least 47 people were killed in heavy bombing, among them seven children, according to the Observatory, which described large-scale destruction in several rebel-held eastern areas.
This week’s death toll has now reached at least 180, the observer group said.
Civilians remain trapped
Residents and activists described the use of a missile that produced earthquake-like tremors upon impact and razed buildings right down to basement level, where many residents desperately seek protection during bombing.
The UN children’s agency UNICEF said the attacks had left nearly two million people without water.
Meanwhile, Syrian forces seized ground north of Aleppo on Saturday, capturing the Palestinian refugee camp of Handarat, which had been in rebel hands for years.
“Handarat has fallen,” an official with one of the main Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters.
“The shelling and the raids did not stop. It is continuous,” Bahaa al-Halabi, an activist in the east of the city, told the German news agency dpa.
mm/jm (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Russian helicopter on Aleppo aid mission shot down, all 5 aboard dead
A Russian Mi-8 helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Syria following delivery of humanitarian supplies to Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said. Three crew and two officers from Russia’s Reconciliation Center died, according to a Kremlin statement.
“On August 1, an Mi-8 transport helicopter has been shot down by ground fire in Idlib province after a delivery of humanitarian aid to the city of Aleppo. Three crew members and two officers from the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria were on board,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The helicopter was returning to the Russian air base at Khmeimim, the statement added. The ministry has not yet revealed identities of those on board.
The Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria has operated at Khmeimim air base since February. It contributes to peace talks between Syrian government and moderate opposition factions not aligned with IS, Al-Nusra Front or other terrorist groups.
The center also oversees ceasefire agreements between belligerent parties and delivery of humanitarian supplies to various parts of Syria.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed in a statement later in the day that all those on board are dead.
“Those on board the helicopter were killed, as we learned from the Defense Ministry’s report. They died heroically as [the crew] tried to divert the helicopter to minimize casualties on the ground,” Peskov said, adding the Mi-8 had been on a humanitarian mission.
“The Kremlin conveys its deep condolences to the families of those killed in action,” he added.
Shortly after the crash, a number of on-the-spot videos have emerged online, allegedly showing helicopter debris, including a tail rotor and parts of the fuselage. At the moment, RT cannot verify authenticity of those videos.
https://youtu.be/bRNK-o8_oT8
Last week the Syrian government and Russia launched an effort to evacuate civilians wishing to leave Aleppo, establishing safe corridors and providing food, medical assistance and transport for those who chose to use them. Scores of people, mostly women and children, rushed to abandon the battered city, which has been contested by several armed forces.
The Syrian opposition decried the move, claiming it was an attempt to depopulate the city, a part of which remains one of its strongholds.
The Syrian Army has lost several aircraft over the last two months, indicating that militants may have received new anti-aircraft weapons lately, freelance journalist Alaa Ibrahim told RT.
“I’ve heard some local sources where the [Russian] helicopter was downed speaking of the possibility of MANPADs – shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles – being used in that context,” he said.
Portable surface-to-air missiles would be a game changer in the hands of the rebel forces, as they counter the Syrian Army’s air superiority. Providing such weapons would be a risky move for a foreign nation, considering the previous record of unintended weapons transfers.
It is the third Russian helicopter lost in action in Syria this year. In July, an Mi-25 attack chopper was shot down near Palmyra, killing two Russian pilots. The aircraft had been engaging the advancing Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants at the Syrian Army’s request when it was taken down, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
In April, an Mi-28N attack helicopter crashed while performing a flight near the city of Homs, with the Defense Ministry stressing it was not shot down. The crash left both pilots dead, with technical failure cited by Moscow as the likely cause of the accident.
Last October, another Mi-8 helicopter was badly damaged and then destroyed by IS fighters after an emergency landing in the middle of search and rescue operation to extract a surviving co-pilot of a Su-24M bomber jet shot which was down by a Turkish Air Force F-16.
Syrian families start leaving rebel-held areas of Aleppo
Dozens of Syrian civilians have started exiting opposition-held areas of Aleppo to government territory through safe corridors. The crossings were the first major movement of people after Russia announced the passages.
After opening “humanitarian corridors” for residents in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo, dozens of people crossed over into government-held side, reported Syrian state media on Saturday.
Images on state television showed multiple civilians, mostly women and children, walking through the corridor. Syria’s state news agency SANA said the residents later boarded buses and were transported to government-run shelters on the western side of Aleppo.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said that “a number” of civilians entered government territory on Saturday.
Russia’s defense ministry said 169 residents so far were able to get out, adding that that four additional safe routes will be opened.
‘Armed men’ surrender
It was the first major movement of people in Aleppo since Russia’s announcement on Thursday that safe passages would be opened for civilians and surrendering opposition fighters.
SANA reported that “armed men from eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo” turned themselves over to government troops, but did not provide further details.
A statement from Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said that 69 rebels have laid down arms while another 59 received medical treatment.
Syria’s President Bashar Assad has offered amnesty to opposition fighters who surrender within the next three months.
Criticism of ‘humanitarian corridor’
Government forces closed off the main road into rebel-held parts of Aleppo on July 17, blocking aid and raising fears of a humanitarian crisis for the estimated 250,000 who live in the area.
Due to the lack of aid, international agencies have warned that the residents risk starvation.
The UN voiced support for the humanitarian corridors, but UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura urged that the international body take charge of the passages.
“Our suggestion to Russia is to actually leave the corridors being established at their initiative to us,” he said.
“How can you expect people to want to walk through a corridor, thousands of them, while there is shelling, bombing, fighting?” added De Mistura.
Opposition activists regarded the government’s humanitarian corridors with skepticism.
“Be clear – these ‘corridors’ are not for getting aid in, but driving people out,” Basma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Commission, said on Friday.
“The brutal message to our people is: leave or starve.”
Over 280,000 people have been killed in the war in Syria, which began five years ago.
rs/rc (AP, AFP, dpa)
Source: http://www.dw.com/en/syrian-families-start-leaving-rebel-held-areas-of-aleppo/a-19438984
Assad vows to fight on, Aleppo to be Erdogan’s graveyard
President Bashar al-Assad vowed on Tuesday to fight on in what he called Syria’s war against terrorism, showing no sign of compromise in his first major address since peace talks broke down in April.
Assad said he would win back “every inch” of Syria and said Aleppo would be a graveyard for the hopes and dreams of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a major sponsor of the insurgents battling to topple him.
“Our war against terrorism is continuing,” Assad said in a speech to parliament broadcast by state TV. “As we liberated Tadmur (Palmyra) and before it many areas, we will liberate every inch of Syria from their hands. Our only option is victory, otherwise Syria will not continue.”
The Syrian army and allied militia, aided by Russian air strikes, recovered control of Palmyra from ISIS insurgents in March. In addition to the war with ISIS, Assad is fighting rebels who include groups that have received support from his foreign enemies, Turkey included.
The war has greatly diminished Assad’s control of Syria, with Islamic State, an array of rebel groups, and a powerful Kurdish militia establishing authority over wide parts of the country.
Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and pre-war commercial hub, and the surrounding area at the border with Turkey have comprised a major theatre in the war, divided between areas of government and rebel control. Escalating fighting there helped ruin the cessation of hostilities agreement agreed in February.
Assad accused Erdogan of recently sending thousands of militants to Aleppo. Russia, which has been bombing in support of Assad since September, said on Saturday more than 2,000 militants had mobilized in the Aleppo area.
Russia said on Monday its air forces would provide “the most active” support to Syrian government troops so as not to let Aleppo and the surrounding area fall into the hands of fighters it called terrorists.
The United States and Russia brokered the cessation of hostilities as part of an effort to get UN-backed peace talks moving earlier this year. The talks broke down in April when the main opposition alliance withdrew over what it described as a worsening situation on the ground. Assad said there had been no real talks in Geneva.
He thanked Russia, Iran, China and the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah for the support they had provided.
Alluding to suggestions of divisions in the alliance, particularly between Iran and Russia, Assad said people should not listen to reports about “differences, struggles and divisions.” He said the alliance was stronger than ever.
He was speaking at the parliament that convened this week for the first time since it was elected in April. The election was held in government-controlled parts of Syria.
Aleppo District Hit by Turkish supported terrorist Al-Nusra Front Fire – Russian Military
Al-Nusra Front militant group heavily shelled the nortern parts of Syrian city of Aleppo, killing and wounding civilians and destroying buildings, Russian military said Monday.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The militants fired mortar rounds and rockets at the Burayj ar Rih neighborhood in northern Aleppo, killing and wounding civilians, Russia’s Syrian reconciliation center said early Monday.
“Nusra Front Militants fired mortars and multiple rocket launchers at the Burayj ar Rih district north of Aleppo,” a member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s center in Hmeimim said.
“The shells fired by terrorist groups at residential quarters destroyed a shopping mall, homes and administrative buildings, private buildings, killing and wounding civilians,” the military official said.
SYRIA Syria: 6,000 civilians fleeing the offensive of the EI in the Aleppo region
Beirut, May 29, 2016 (AFP) – More than 6,000 civilians fled 24H in the advance of Islamic State group in the province of Aleppo taking refuge in the Kurdish-controlled areas in the northern region of Syria, reported Sunday the Syrian Observatory for fingers Rights (OSDH).
Friday, the Islamic State group (EI) cut the supply route between two strongholds of the rebellion in the region by taking villages between Marea and Azaz, 20 km further north.
“More than 6,000 civilians, mostly women and children, fled these villages Marea and fell the last two days in the hands of the EI”, told AFP the director of OSDH.
According to Rami Abdel Rahman, “the displaced arrived last night in areas west and northwest of Aleppo under control of Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS)”, an Arab-Kurdish alliance that fights on EI fronts in Syria.
The fighters of the IU, who want to take their strongholds for rebels of Azaz and Marea, are now only 5km from the second city, according to OSDH.
“There are only four medical staff at Al-Horriyya hospital, the only one in the city of Marea,” he told AFP an anesthetist of the institution who spoke on condition of anonymity .
Yehya, a nurse responsible for Assalama hospital in the north of Azaz for his part said that Doctors Without Borders had to evacuate patients and doctors in the hospital, fighting now taking place 3 km away.
“Our hospital is de facto closed except for emergency and relief,” said Yehya. He further pointed that “the new camps (for displaced people) are overcrowded and living conditions are precarious, without sanitation.”
The fighting left since Friday start of the offensive launched by the EI 47 deaths among the jihadist suicide bombers including 9 and 61 among the rebels and 29 civilians, according to OSDH which has a wide network of informants across the country.
In Aleppo itself, several areas of the city and areas to the north have been the target of violent Russian aerial bombings and the regime, according to OSDH.
Monday, May 30, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com
Stéphane © armenews.com
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