Aleppo children return to school as air strikes continue

The bombardment of Aleppo by the Syrian government and its Russian ally continued as children in the besieged eastern districts began their new school year.

As fresh air strikes took place on Sunday amid fierce fighting between the opposition and soldiers loyal to Bashar al-Assad, the regime’s military command said it was prepared to offer safe passage, guaranteed by Moscow, to rebels in the east of the besieged city willing to surrender arms and leave.

Hundreds have been killed and more than a thousand injured in over a week of relentless bombardment by Syrian and Russian warplanes, which have deployed an array of weaponry including cluster munitions, phosphorus and bunker-buster bombs in an effort to force the opposition’s surrender ahead of a planned ground offensive.

“We invite all those bearing arms to leave the eastern districts of Aleppo city and leave the civilian residents to live their lives normally,” a statement from the Syrian military command was reported on Sunday on state TV. The statement said both the Russian and Syrian government would guarantee their safety.

Such guarantees are unlikely to hold much traction: the latest bout of violence occurred after a fragile one-week ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia, collapsed after Syrian or Russian fighter jets bombed an aid convoy to opposition-held areas.

New school year

Residents said the bombings continued on Sunday despite pupils in eastern Aleppo beginning their new school year.

Local teachers posted images of a few students attending classes, saying attendance was poor due to the continued air strikes. Still, they were pleasantly surprised that even some pupils managed to show up.

Schools in the eastern suburbs officially reopened on Saturday, although only a few actually held classes. Residents said bunker-buster bombs could damage schools that had built their facilities underground to protect them from air strikes.

Pro-government forces pushed ahead with their ground offensive, with state TV and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying troops took control of new territory in the city’s north.

Fighting was also reported all along the frontline between government and rebel forces.

Seizing Aleppo would be a major victory for Mr Assad, who is relying on thousands of foreign fighters to prosecute the battle. It would place him in control of Syria’s most heavily populated cities, while pushing the rebellion against him into a rural insurgency.

The UN said eastern Aleppo was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe and expressed deep alarm at the “ferocious pummelling” of the city.

“The health system is on the verge of total collapse, with patients being turned away and no medicines available to treat even the most common ailments,” said Stephen O’Brien, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs.

“With clean water and food in very short supply, the number of people requiring urgent medical evacuations is likely to rise dramatically in the coming days.”

– (Guardian service)