This picture shows the horror of daily life in Aleppo as a young Syrian boy looks up from beneath the rubble following Russian air strikes in rebel-held Fardous.
Jameel Mustafah Habboush was rescued by members of the White Helmets group and taken away for treatment after the heavy bombardment on Tuesday.
A series of pictures show him first discovered underneath the rubble, before he is pulled free and carried away. Later, he is seen on a stretcher waiting for treatment ts a hospital.
A rescuer reaches into the rubble to give oxygen to Jameel. Credit: AFP
The oxygen mask is held over Jameel’s face as he is pulled from the rubble. Credit: AFP
A wider shot shows exactly how perilous a position Jameel is in. Credit: AFP
Jameel eventually finds his way to a hospital, where he receives treatment. Credit: AFP
Calm shattered
Russian jets resumed heavy bombing of rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Tuesday after several days of relative calm, a rebel official and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
Air strikes mostly hit the Bustan Al Qasr neighbourhood, Zakaria Malhifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim rebel group said.
“There is renewed bombardment and it is heavy,” he said.
The Observatory said the death toll from bombing in Bustan Al Qasr, Fardous and other neighbourhoods rose to at least 25, with scores of wounded.
At least 50 civilians were killed by strikes on the rebel-held part of the city and nearby villages controlled by insurgents, residents and rescue workers said. In Bustan Al Qasr, residents said, the strikes hit a medical centre and a children’s playground.
The Syrian army, backed by Iranian-backed militias, also said it had consolidated its control of the al Jandoul traffic circle at a major road intersection on the northern outskirts of Aleppo.
Moscow and Damascus reduced air raids in the northern city last week. The Syrian army said that was partly to allow civilians to leave opposition-held eastern neighbourhoods.
The Syrian government said rebels holed up in Aleppo can leave with their families if they lay down their arms.
Insurgents denounced that offer as a deception.
President Bashar Al Assad seeks the complete recapture of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the 5 1/2-year war, which has been divided between government and opposition control for years.
Ceasefire collapse
Al Assad’s Russian allies have meanwhile built up its forces in Syria after a brief ceasefire collapsed last month.
Since Russia intervened in the war a year ago, the government’s side has gained the upper hand on numerous fronts, including Aleppo, where the opposition-held sector has been completely encircled for weeks.
Insurgents have advanced elsewhere, including in Hama province further south, where they captured a series of towns and villages last month. But in recent days government forces have regained some of that ground.
In the southern city of Deraa, which is split between government and rebel control, insurgent shelling of a school killed at least five people, including children, on Tuesday, the Observatory and state media reported.
Rebels denied they fired at the school. Residents reported the same death toll.
Near the Turkish border, rebels backed by Turkey and a US-led coalition closed in on the Daesh-held village of Dabiq.
Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel groups have been pushing south into Daesh’s territory in an operation backed by Turkey since August 24, and have taken more villages near Dabiq in recent days.
But hundreds of mines planted by the militants were delaying their progress, rebels said. The militants even retook the villages of Ihtimlat and Kafra only hours after the FSA fighters seized them, rebels said.
“They planted along their front lines of defence hundreds of mines,” a rebel from the Failaq Al Sham group said. Now the goal of FSA forces was to retake the town of Soran, a Daesh stronghold in the area, before moving on to Dabiq, he said.
