Battle of Aleppo: 84 are dead in renewed offensive, say reports

Syrian government air strikes and artillery have killed dozens of people, damaged medical facilities and fattened residential buildings as they target rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo for a second day.

At least 84 people were killed and dozens wounded in and around Aleppo city over the past 48 hours, as air raids launched by Syrian jets attacked rebel-held areas amid a new government offensive, reported Aljazeera on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 21 people, including five children and an emergency worker, were killed on Wednesday in the al-Shaar, al-Sukkari, al-Sakhour and Karam al-Beik neighbourhoods.

'The helicopters won't stop for a single moment. Right now, the bombing won't let up'

- Bebars Mishal, Syrian Civil Defence

"The helicopters won't stop for a single moment," Bebars Mishal, a member of the Syrian Civil Defence, a first responder group that operates in rebel-held areas, told Reuters news agency.

"Right now, the bombing won't let up."

An Aljazeera reporter in Kilis on the Turkish side of the Turkey-Syria border, said casualty figures were "rising by the hour".

"One of the worst-hit areas is the al-Shaar neighbourhood where at least 18 barrel bombs struck, one of them near a children's hospital and a school," said Osama bin Javaid.

"We have seen disturbing scenes of residents holding up body parts of relatives killed in air strikes," he added.

"So what we're seeing on the ground is utter desperation on the part of the people of Aleppo who are not sure what to do because they can't actually go into shelters, and if they stay at home they are at risk of being bombed."

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said on Thursday that two hospitals which came under attack on Wednesday were a children's hospital and a specialist surgery hospital.

"That morning, the neighbourhood was reportedly struck more than 50 times," the group told Middle East Eye.

"The paediatric hospital that was hit is the only specialised hospital for children in the besieged area. Hospital staff managed to move children, including premature babies, from cots and incubators to the basement of the building to shelter from the bombing."

"This means that since the siege began in July, functioning hospitals in east Aleppo have been damaged in 29 separate attacks. Some hospitals have been hit multiple times and have been forced to close as a result. Both hospitals which were hit are supported by MSF, amongst other organisations."

Medical facilities targeted

According to Adham Sahloul, of the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports several hospitals in opposition areas, it appeared the government was focusing its fire on Aleppo's medical infrastructure.

There are only five functioning trauma facilities left in eastern Aleppo, Sahloul told the Associated Press news agency.

On Tuesay, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three hospitals in rebel-held areas of northern Syria had been hit by air raids in the past 24 hours, leaving medical staff and patients wounded.

'We have seen disturbing scenes of residents holding up body parts of relatives killed in air strikes'

- Osama bin Javaid, Aljazeera reporter

Among the wounded were patients who had been moved there after a hospital in the nearby village of Kafr Naha was hit on Monday, the Britain-based monitoring group said.

The Independent Doctors Association, which supports several facilities in Syria, said eastern Aleppo's central blood bank was struck in Wednesday's attacks, as well as a children's hospital supported by the association.

The impact on east Aleppo's densely packed civilian neighbourhoods has been devastating. More than 250,000 civilians are still trapped in rebel-held areas, with dwindling food supplies and extremely limited medical care.

The Syrian army cut the last supply route into rebel-held territory in July and the last time supplies reached east Aleppo was in August.

Aleppo has become the fiercest front in Syria's five-and-a-half-year war, pitting President Bashar al-Assad, supported by Russia, Iran and Shia militias, against Sunni rebels, including groups backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies.

The resumption of government air strikes on besieged east Aleppo began just as Russia also announced a wide-scale operation against opposition target in Syria's north and central Homs province.

This article is available in French on Middle East Eye French edition.