Pro-government forces in Aleppo, Syria are now entering homes and shooting civilians in cold blood, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday. At least 82 civilians have been killed so far.
The military forces, who support President Bashar Assad, are currently taking the city of Aleppo over from rebel forces, making their way into the last of the rebel-held neighborhoods. Anyone with ties to the rebels who seized control of Aleppo in 2012 is being hunted and executed, say activists, including women and children.
“We have received reports of pro-government forces killing at least 82 civilians in four different neighborhoods – Bustan al-Qasr, al-Ferdous, al-Kallaseh, and al-Saleheen,” UN spokesman Rupert Colville said at a press conference on Tuesday. He called the reports “deeply disturbing.”
Another UN spokesman, Jens Laerke, said that the situation looked like “a complete meltdown of humanity in Aleppo.”
Of those killed, at least 11 were women and 13 were children. Reports from the scene say that bodies are left lying in the streets.
Terrified civilians are trapped and have nowhere to flee, leading some to begin bidding the world goodbye on social media from inside the chaotic ruins of Aleppo, still under constant bombing attacks.
It is the doomsday inside Aleppo. Bombs bombs are over the head of civilians. people are running running but don’t know where to go.
— @Mr.Alhamdo (@Mr_Alhamdo) December 12, 2016
the last massage. Thanks for everything. we shared many moments. The last tweets were from an emotiomal father. Farewell, #Aleppo
— @Mr.Alhamdo (@Mr_Alhamdo) December 12, 2016
U guess it’s goodbye..
Thanks all who stand for us and pay for us.
But it’s almost over and they are just hours away of killing us— Rami Zien (@Rami_Zien) December 12, 2016
The International Red Cross said in a statement on Tuesday that residents “have literally nowhere safe to run.”
The Syrian military announced on Monday that it now holds 99 percent of the former rebel neighborhoods in what has been one of the most highly contested territories in Syria since the civil war began.
