Aleppo- Residents of besieged Aleppo don’t have many choices as a new wave of deaths emerges with every sunrise due to the sporadic raids carried out by the warplanes of the Syrian regime and Russia.
Syrian regime forces continued pounding the eastern parts of Aleppo for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday, worsening the miseries of a quarter of a million residents currently trapped in the besieged city.
The regime’s heavy bombardment has totally destroyed all aspects of life inside Aleppo as most facilities have stopped offering services or have shut down.
Yahya Abu Ahmad, a resident from the rebel-held Masaken Hanano area, east of Aleppo, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “We have never witnessed similar attacks. Dozens of strikes and rockets pour on our homes all day long. My family and I have been hiding in the shelter in the past four days, but it is very cold. My children are afraid, they cry all the time. We are living a nightmare.”
Regime forces and their allies are trying to advance to the Aleppo neighborhoods by tightening the belt on besieged areas, amid heavy shelling. Scores of families have been forced to move inside the area to escape the hell of battles.
One refugee who was able to flee his neighborhood with his family said: “We left through a miracle.”
Also, death remains the only choice of injured residents. The latest regime attacks have left more than 1,500 people wounded, according to statistics conducted by several medical organizations in the city.
The shelling has also shut down eight medical centers operating in the city, including four main hospitals, leaving only some clinics that offer first aid treatment for light injuries and accept only a small number of patients.
The Health Directorate in the rebel sector said the airstrikes put out of service the last functioning hospital on Saturday morning, when regime forces shelled the hospital of Omar Bin Abdel Aziz in al-Maadi district.
For the second time during this academic year, schools have also closed due to the security situation in the eastern parts of Aleppo.
Abu Mohammed, a resident from Qadi Askar explained the difficulty of circulating due to the continuous shelling. “Leaving the house has become dangerous. I had to hide for about an hour yesterday at the entrance of a building due to the heavy shelling,” he said.