The official statement by Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien on the situation in Aleppo is here. I went after it after reading three news reports, none of which linked to it or quoted it directly and each of which, as it turns out, misreported the statement. Here are its opening paragraphs:
I am extremely concerned about the fate of civilians as a result of the deeply alarming and chilling situation unfolding in Aleppo city.
Intensified ground fighting and indiscriminate aerial bombardment over the past few days in eastern Aleppo city has reportedly killed and injured scores of civilians. There are no functioning hospitals left, and official food stocks are practically finished in eastern Aleppo. At the same time, indiscriminate shelling continues on civilian-populated areas and civilian infrastructure in western Aleppo, killing and injuring civilians, and displacing over 20,000 people in recent weeks. Civilian infrastructure continues to be purposefully destroyed across Aleppo.
The intensity of attacks on eastern Aleppo neighbourhoods over the past few days has forced thousands of civilians to flee to other parts of the city. Initial reports indicate that up to 16,000 people have been displaced, many into uncertain and precarious situations. It is likely that thousands more will have no choice but to flee should fighting continue to spread and intensify over the coming days.
That wasn’t so hard, was it?
It contains little real news and doesn’t cast much light on the question I asked yesterday: are the civilians in Aleppo fleeing towards the Syrian Army or away from it? At least it tells us what Stephen O’Brien and, presumably, the United Nations organization think about the situation.
Just about everything else seems to be confabulation.
“are the civilians in Aleppo fleeing towards the Syrian Army or away from it? ”
There is a cordon around the city – anyone trying to flee will inevitably head towards the areas controlled by the Syrian government or its allies because there is no where else to go.