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Seven-year-old girl tweets of being "between death and life" as Aleppo on verge of falling

Retaking the beleaguered city from rebel forces is key for regime head Bashar al Assad’s strategy in the now five-year war.

Updated 10.45am

SYRIAN REBELS HAVE lost all of the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in eastern Aleppo as the army pushes an offensive to retake the battered city according to an on-site monitor.

The army captured the Sakhur, Haydariya and Sheikh Khodr neighbourhoods this morning, while Kurdish forces took the Sheikh Fares district from rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The bombardment appears to have destroyed the home of seven-year-old Syrian girl Bana Alabed who has gained worldwide recognition on foot of the tweets she and her mother have been sending from the besieged city.

The Government has now retaken a third of rebel-held territory in Aleppo, forcing nearly 10,000 civilians to flee as they press their offensive.

In a major breakthrough in the push to retake the whole city, regime forces captured six rebel-held districts of eastern Aleppo over the weekend, including Masaken Hanano, the biggest of those in eastern Aleppo.

Yesterday, the 13th day of the operation, they also took control of the adjacent neighbourhoods of Jabal Badra and Baadeeen and captured three others, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Inzarat, Al-Sakan al-Shaabi and Ain al-Tall have all returned to regime hands and government forces have made large forays into Sakhur and nearby Haidariya, the monitor said.

It said government forces are “in control of most of the northern part” of Aleppo.

“The rebels have lost at least 30% of the territory they once controlled in Aleppo,” Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

Aircraft

The regime gains came as its aircraft pounded rebel positions and amid heavy clashes between the opposition and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad in the strategic Sakhur district.

Masaken Hanano was the first district the rebels took in the summer of 2012 in a move that divided the city into a rebel-held east and a regime-controlled west.

Around 250,000 civilians besieged for months in the east have faced serious food and fuel shortages.

The Observatory said that nearly 10,000 civilians had fled east Aleppo overnight Saturday — at least 6,000 to the Kurdish-controlled northern district of Sheikh Maksoud, with the rest fleeing to government-held areas.

“It is the first exodus of this kind from east Aleppo since 2012,” Abdel Rahman said.

Regime sights on Sakhur

Syrian state television broadcast images of a crowd of civilians including women and children gathered around green buses that it said had come to pick them up in Masaken Hanano.

One woman was shown pushing a stroller and many others carried plastic bags on their heads as bombardment was heard in the distance.

Official media said they were taken “by the army to safe areas”.

Yasser al-Youssef, from the rebel group Nureddin al-Zinki, said opposition fighters were consolidating their positions in Sakhur.

“We are strengthening our positions to defend the city and residents, but the aircraft are destroying everything methodically, area by area,” he said of a regime campaign of air strikes.

Sakhur lies on a stretch of just 1.5 kilometres between west Aleppo and Masaken Hanano, now both regime-controlled.

If the regime takes control of Sakhur, east Aleppo would be split in two from north to south, dealing a further blow to the armed opposition.

The latest regime push comes after days of intense bombardment on the east, which has been pounded with air strikes, shelling and barrel bombs.

Mideast Syria Aleppo Voices 2012 file photo of Aleppo Manu Brabo Manu Brabo

On Saturday, dozens of families fled Sakhur and Haidariya as regime raids and artillery killed at least 18 civilians in several districts, the Britain-based Observatory said.

At least 225 civilians, including 27 children, have been killed since the government’s latest assault on east Aleppo began on 15 November.

Isis chemical attack

Rebel forces also intensified rocket attacks on western districts overnight, killing at least four civilians and wounding dozens, the Observatory said.

Such attacks have killed a total of 27 civilians since the offensive began, among them 11 children.

The United Nations has a plan to deliver aid to Aleppo and evacuate the sick and wounded, which rebel factions have approved but which Damascus has not yet agreed. Guarantees are also needed from regime ally Russia.

Once a commercial and industrial hub, Aleppo has seen some of the worst fighting in Syria’s nearly six-year war.

The conflict broke out in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests, and has since evolved into a complex war involving different factions and foreign powers.

Yesterday, the Turkish army said that 22 pro-Ankara Syrian rebels were hit by a chemical gas attack from Islamic State group jihadists in northern Syria.

The Turkish army is backing the Syrian fighters in an unprecedented cross-border operation it says is targeting both IS and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Ankara considers to be a “terrorist” group.

The YPG is a key component of a US-backed Arab-Kurdish alliance fighting to oust IS from its de facto Syria capital of Raqa, after the jihadist group overran large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014.

Syria’s war has killed more than 300,000 people and displaced more than half the population.

Additional reporting Cianan Brennan

© – AFP, 2016

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    Mute Teddy
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:52 PM

    Well for to everyone on our island who stuck to the rules of lockdown – allowing us to come out the far side quicker that anticipated!

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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:09 PM

    @Teddy: pitty the government didn’t stick to there own rules No quarantine, No testing on people coming in the country & the care homes lies…

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    Mute Ricky Spanish
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    Jun 5th 2020, 6:16 PM

    @Pat Kelly: for God sake give it a rest. They’ve done a pretty good job overall.

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    Mute Joe Johnson
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:58 PM

    Great need a new pair of slippers. Old ones worn out walking around the house.

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    Mute John Baylon
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:30 PM

    @Joe Johnson: Hope your new slippers will ease the need for health care workers to continue their wearing of ppe when this is over

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    Mute Oliver Walker
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:46 PM

    The ‘Open the country’ brigade will be happy with that. Quick turnaround though…

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    Mute Peter Hughes
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:52 PM

    @Oliver Walker: You obviously don’t work or in a job that is not affected by this….put yourself in someones shoes that has mortgages to pay and needs to put food on the table, you people are so selfish its unreal…its all me me me.

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    Mute Oliver Walker
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:58 PM

    @Peter Hughes: No Peter, I was temporarily laid off in March, thanks.

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    Mute Joe
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:59 PM

    @Oliver Walker: great news and completely sensible!

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    Mute Oliver Walker
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:10 PM

    @Peter Hughes: Where did I mention that Peter?

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    Mute Declan Leonard
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:15 PM

    @Peter Hughes: try seeing the sarcasm in his 1st message

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    Mute Jake Kelly
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:00 PM

    If they didn’t reopen shops people would be mad, if they reopened shops people would be mad. Not praising the government or anything but no matter what choices they made today they’d be angering someone who probably can’t see the complexity of the issues from a financial well-being standpoint. Health and safety standards are going to be changed to accommodate things but the longer things remained shut the greater the chance of economic decimation grew day by day. As it is things still won’t be normal and the effects will be felt for a long time

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:46 PM

    Shops that sell pints of porter and have the added convenicene of sitting down and drinking it there also? Too far….

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    Mute Luke Redmond
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:50 PM

    The march was the catalyst for this imo
    Public opinion had swung against them

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    Mute Sharp Elsi Mate
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:09 PM

    @Luke Redmond: #PaddysLifesMatter

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    Mute John fitzpatrick
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    Jun 5th 2020, 4:11 PM

    @Luke Redmond: the majority of people were against the march and still are. It’s still breaking the mass gathering rule and still a liability.

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    Mute Luke Redmond
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    Jun 5th 2020, 4:53 PM

    @John fitzpatrick: I totally agree
    Maybe I wasn’t clear
    The march shouldn’t have happened and the fact it did turned public opinion against restrictions as it undermined them

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    Mute Darryl Canning
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:57 PM

    When can I get a haircut?

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    Mute Marie Louise Ryan
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:56 PM

    Scroll to comments section, is Penny’s opening

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    Mute Logan Shepherd
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:59 PM

    @Marie Louise Ryan: As long as they are not in a shopping center then they can open. Fingers crossed for you ..

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    Mute Trish O'Leary-Dunne
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:11 PM

    @Marie Louise Ryan: Pennys said they aren’t ready to open on Monday sadly.

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    Mute Nell foran
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:32 PM

    This acceleration is madness it doesn’t give time to check if the numbers go up.

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    Mute Symbolism
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:06 PM

    Is all browsing banned or just leisurely browsing ?

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    Mute whatistheseason
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    Jun 5th 2020, 4:15 PM

    Black pints matter – open the pubs!

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    Mute Modern Irish Dad
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:54 PM

    That’s good I like my local

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    Mute Martin Smith
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:32 PM

    Leo be happy that he can return home now after having to relocate to farmleigh so that he could meet his mates for a few cans in the park

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    Mute John fitzpatrick
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    Jun 5th 2020, 4:12 PM

    @Martin Smith: Yawn!!

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    Mute Chewns
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:54 PM

    Barbers opening?

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    Mute Anthony Whelan
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:06 PM

    @Chewns: July 20

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    Mute Noel O'Neill
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    Jun 5th 2020, 3:18 PM

    Public transport is driving people to use their own cars, different drivers are been selected as to how many people they let on, also all very well for these places to open and I’m not against it but to the HSE who should be working in tandem with the phases and getting people their appointments for different health reasons should be opening as well

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    Mute Fionn Darland
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    Jun 5th 2020, 2:56 PM

    Great news!

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    Mute james r
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    Jun 5th 2020, 4:39 PM

    The funniest thing is how people reacting. Yesterday they were crying that they’re so scared as virus is spreading and they were ringing garda when their neighbours went to the beach and today they’re so happy that they can go sunbathing or to shops with thousands others. Where is logic in it? Are they really so stupid that yesterday they believed we’ll all die and today there is no danger anymore just because government told them? Stupidness is everywhere

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    Mute Daniel Roche
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    Jun 5th 2020, 5:13 PM

    @james r: are you still telling lies, would you ever grow up.

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    Mute mar
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    Jun 5th 2020, 6:03 PM

    @james r: Completely agree. This whole situation really has been an eye-opener.

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    Mute Dermot O'Reilly
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    Jun 5th 2020, 7:11 PM

    All churches remain closed

    Thanks to unelected dictator Varadakar

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