40,000 fleeing Aleppo as battle for Syrian city intensifies, U.N. group says

[uhnope]

Source: CNN

(CNN)The battle for Aleppo -- once Syria's commercial heart -- is intensifying, and video has surfaced appearing to show thousands of civilians streaming out of the devastated city.

CNN could not independently verify the authenticity of the video, but the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said via Twitter Friday that 40,000 people have been displaced by the ongoing fighting around Aleppo.

Reports said forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, crucially aided by Russian air power, have cut the city off from supplies and are advancing.

Increasingly intensive Russian airstrikes are pushing thousands of Syrians north, away from the northern outskirts of the once bustling city, according to the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, the main opposition group.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/middleeast/battle-for-aleppo/

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Assad is pulverizing civilians once again with the help of Russian soldiers & bombs.

here's the vid from youtube. I can't attest as to the youtube account it's on but it seems to be the same vid as on the CNN page.

[JPnoodleman]

1. I wonder if Russia intends to annihilate Aleppo?

I know Aleppo figures into certain Islamic doomsday prophecies.

Maybe they are attempting a strategic gambit of completely obliterating the city and everyone in it, thus putting a hitch in the prophecy for ISIS. A kind of grim tactic if so.

[inanna]

2. Kicking. n/t

[pampango]

3. More refugees serves Putin and Assad, too. The new refugees will not seek shelter in Assad's part of

Syria but in refugee camps in neighboring countries burdening those countries and those who provide support to them.

Eventually many will seek to go to Europe. This will cause further problems for Europe - which will weaken liberal governments and lead to more gains for right wing parties which support Putin. Mr. Putin is a very smart man.

[pampango]

4. BBC: Syrian refugee numbers soar at Turkey border

The number of Syrians trying to cross into Turkey amid an upsurge of fighting in northern Syria has nearly doubled, a Turkish official says.

The governor of the Turkish border town of Kilis said 35,000 refugees had reached the border area - up from an estimated 20,000 on Friday.

Turkey says it is prepared to help the refugees but the frontier remains shut.

They are fleeing a Syrian government offensive on rebel-held positions near the northern city of Aleppo.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-35512498