Syria Escalates Airstrikes Against Rebel East Aleppo

UN Warns Locals Face 'Very Bleak' Moment in Attacks

Locals are once again reporting that airstrikes against rebel-held eastern Aleppo have been on the rise. The strikes began earlier this week, and around 150 have been estimated killed in the strikes, mostly civilians.

Syria’s military began warning of a new offensive late last week, urging civilians to leave and also calling on the rebels to drop their weapons and flee. Despite some allegations to the contrary, Russia has insisted they haven’t participated in the strikes against Aleppo, and are only carrying out limited airstrikes in Idlib Province.

The UN warned this latest resumption of fighting marked a “very bleak” moment for eastern Aleppo, with the locals running low on food and medicine. Supplies have been low for weeks, however, and even during a nearly month-long Russia-backed ceasefire, the UN wasn’t delivering any aid anyhow.

Indeed, Russia conditioned any further official extensions of their ceasefire on getting a UN assurance that they’d actually make such deliveries into eastern Aleppo, saying that the ceasefires they’d already imposed have been “wasted” by the lack of follow through, noting that no deliveries were made, and no evacuations were conducted.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.