Hundreds of men from east Aleppo go ‘missing’
Hundreds of men from eastern Aleppo have gone missing after leaving rebel-held areas, the United Nations’ human rights office said on Friday, voicing deep concern over their fate at the hands of government forces.
UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing the office had heard “worrying allegations that hundreds of men have gone missing after crossing into government-controlled areas” of Aleppo.
“Given the terrible record of arbitrary detention, torture and disappearances, we are of course deeply concerned,” he said.
Colville said family members had reported losing contact with the men, who are between the ages of 30 and 50, after they fled opposition-held areas of Aleppo around a week to 10 days ago.
His comments came as Syrian government artillery bombarded the fast-shrinking rebel enclave in the heart of Aleppo on Friday despite its ally Russia’s announcement of a new humanitarian pause, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The army has recaptured 85 percent of the eastern part of the city which the rebels had held since summer 2012.
The assault has prompted a mass exodus from east Aleppo where at least 80,000 people have fled their homes, according to the SOHR.
‘Civilians stopped from leaving’
Some 100,000 civilians are believed to remain in the “ever-shrinking” opposition-held districts of the city, he said, also citing reports that rebels had prevented some civilians from fleeing to safety, which would be a potential war crime.
“Some of the civilians who are attempting to flee are reportedly being blocked by armed opposition groups,” Colville told reporters in Geneva.
“During the last two weeks, Fateh al-Sham Front (formerly al-Nusra Front) and the Abu Amara Battalion are alleged to have abducted and killed an unknown number of civilians who requested the armed groups to leave their neighbourhoods, to spare the lives of civilians.”
In addition, the groups had reportedly “demanded that activists inform them of civilians attempting to leave, along with the names of those who participated in protests against the presence of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham group and other groups affiliated with them” in several neighbourhoods a few weeks ago, Colville said.
Russia announced late on Thursday that the Syrian army was “suspending” attacks on the city’s remaining rebel-held districts so that civilians could leave, but residents told Al Jazeera there was no let-up in the bombing and shelling.
Speaking in Germany after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said military experts and diplomats would meet on Saturday in Geneva to work out details of a rebel exit from Aleppo’s eastern neighbourhoods, along with civilians who wanted to leave the city.
Aleppo, once Syria’s bustling commercial hub, has been largely divided between a government-held west and a rebel-controlled east since 2012. But government forces are now reported to be in control of about 75 percent of the east after a relentless three-week ground and air assault.
“The bombardment and shelling is … unbelievable,” Aleppo-based journalist Zouhir al-Shimale told Al Jazeera. “We have become useless. There’s nothing we can do. We can’t even leave.”
Although there are still many rural areas in rebel hands, Aleppo is their last major urban holdout. The prospect of its fall, following months of government gains elsewhere, has brought Assad closer to victory than at any point since the early months of a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands and made half of Syrians homeless.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
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