The UN’s Syria envoy yesterday warned east Aleppo faces total destruction, as government forces made their biggest gains in years against rebels inside the opposition-held part of the battleground city.
Staffan de Mistura said eastern Aleppo could be “totally destroyed” by year’s end, and called on the government to halt strikes if opposition fighters left the city, even offering to escort them out himself.
The envoy said eastern Aleppo risked joining the ranks of the 20th century’s worst tragedies including the Srebrenica massacre and the Rwandan genocide.
His plea comes two weeks into an all-out government assault on opposition parts of Aleppo following the collapse of a short-lived truce negotiated by Russia and the United States.
President Bashar al-Assad, meanwhile, warned rebels in Aleppo that unless they agreed to a deal with the government, his forces would have “no option” but to expel them from the city.
Loyalists have made significant advances in the Bustan al-Basha district near the centre of Aleppo, divided between government fighters in the west and rebels in the east, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said it was the biggest and most significant advance inside the city since 2013.
The offensive by Assad’s forces has seen rebel-held areas pounded relentlessly with air strikes and barrel bombs.