Two million at risk in Aleppo, warns UN

Ferocious fighting between government, rebel forces has cut off access to the city.

More than two million people in Syria’s Aleppo are in danger of coming under total siege, the United Nations has warned, calling for immediate access to the heavily bombed city.

Ferocious fighting has divided Aleppo in recent weeks, with rebels and regime forces seizing rival access routes and cutting off residents.

In a statement yesterday, the UN’s top humanitarian official in Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, and regional coordinator Kevin Kennedy called for a “humanitarian pause” in the hostilities.

Two million people in the city are living in fear of besiegement, including up to 2,75,000 people trapped in east Aleppo, the statement said.

The fighting in Aleppo is reported to have killed at least 130 civilians since the end of July, and has damaged hospitals, clinics, and the city’s power and water networks.

“At a minimum, the UN requires a full-fledged ceasefire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses to reach the millions of people in need throughout Aleppo and replenish the food and medicine stocks, which are running dangerously low,” the statement read.

Government forces and a coalition of rebels, Islamists, and jihadists have used their newly acquired territories to bring supplies into areas they control, but the roads are still not safe for civilians to use.

“When used to intentionally deprive people of food and other items essential to their survival, siege tactics constitute a war crime,” the United Nations statement said. More than 2,90,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011.