The Syrian civil war has been marked by stark warnings from those experiencing the destruction first hand that they will not be able to survive much longer.
The United Nations Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura is the latest to issue such an admonition: He cautioned that if aerial bombardments from Syrian and Russian forces continue, eastern Aleppo could be “totally destroyed” by the end of the year.
“The bottom line is in a maximum of two months, two and a half months, the city of eastern Aleppo, at this rate, may be totally destroyed,” Staffan de Mistura said Thursday. “We are talking about the old city in particular.”
Speaking in Geneva, de Mistura urged forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad and and its ally Russia to stop attacking the eastern part of Syria’s largest city, which is held by rebel groups. Government troops hold the remainder of the city, completely surrounding rebel-held areas. Save the Children estimates that 35 to 40 percent of those trapped are children.
Russia maintains its bombs are targeting terrorists it says are holed up in the rebel parts of the city, but Moscow has strategically targeted hospitals caring for the wounded. De Mistura said that of an estimated 8,000 rebel fighters in eastern Aleppo, only about 900 are from the Fatah al-Sham Front group, al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate. The envoy had previously estimated more than half of fighters were linked to the terrorist organization.
De Mistura pleaded with the insurgents to lay down their arms.
"If you decide to leave with dignity,” he said, “I am personally ready to physically accompany you.”
Secretary of State John Kerry came tantalizingly close to a ceasefire deal in Syria last month, which temporarily stopped bombardment of besieged Aleppo. But talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov broke down and were officially suspended by Kerry on Monday. International diplomacy has failed to stop the bloodshed in the nearly six-year civil war which has left more than 300,000 people dead.
“Thousands of Syrian civilians, not terrorists, will be killed and many of them wounded,” de Mistura said if the bombing continues. “This is what you, we, the world will be seeing when we will be trying to celebrate Christmas, or the end of the year, if this continues at this rate, unimpeded.”
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