iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Syrian government forces have reportedly entered civilian homes and killed people inside “on the spot” in eastern Aleppo, the U.N. Human Rights Office said Tuesday.
At least 82 civilians, including 11 women and 13 children, were reportedly killed in four different eastern Aleppo neighborhoods — Bustan al-Qasr, al-Fardous, al-Kallaseh and al-Saleheen, U.N. spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.
“Civilians have paid a brutal price during this conflict, and we are filled with the deepest foreboding for those who remain in this last hellish corner of opposition-held eastern Aleppo,” Colville said. “While some reportedly managed to flee yesterday, some were reportedly caught and killed on the spot and others were arrested.”
Multiple sources have reported that tens of civilians were shot and killed Monday in al-Ahrar Square in the al-Kallaseh neighbouhood and in Bustan al-Qasr by government forces and their allies, allegedly including the Iraqi al-Nujabaa armed group, Colville added.
Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, warned that the bloodshed in Aleppo could spread to other rebel-held areas in Syria if the international community does not act.
“What can happen next, if the international community continues to collectively wring its hands, can be much more dangerous,” he said. “What is happening with Aleppo could repeat itself in Douma, in Raqqa, in Idlib. We cannot let this continue.”
U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was “alarmed over reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children, in Aleppo,” his office said.
The Syrian government has taken over the entire city of Aleppo except for a small and shrinking enclave in the eastern part of the city. Gaining control of the remaining neighborhoods would be a strategic victory for President Bashar al-Assad, returning all urban centers in the country to his control.
The Syrian government Tuesday continued to bombard the shrinking rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo and clashes took place between rebels and forces loyal to the Syrian president, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
“I’m seeing people who are awaiting death. I’m seeing destruction,” Abdulkarim Sergieh, a resident and media activist in the remaining rebel-held areas, told ABC News in a text message. “I’m seeing wounded who no one can help. I’m seeing a mother and father who are looking for food for their children and can’t find any. I’m seeing people who are cold without anything to keep them warm.”
Eastern Aleppo is under siege and its residents have not received U.N. aid since July. Thousands of civilians are believed to be trapped in neighborhoods that, until recently, were under opposition control — including activists and Civil Defense members who are “at risk of grave violations including detention, torture and killing,” according to the U.N.
Copyright © 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.