Fighters of the Free Syrian Army fire an anti-aircraft weapon in the rebel-held Mashhad area in southeastern Aleppo, on December 12, 2016, as they battle Syrian government forces during an operation to retake the embattled city.

Syrian regime forces and sectarian militias carried out on Monday nearly two hundred executions in Aleppo, which included women and children, according to eyewitnesses from within the city, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

A firing squad from Bashar al-Assad’s forces and militiamen also executed medical staff.

According to activists on the ground, Hezbollah militia carried out most of the mass executions in the war-torn city.

Sources confirmed to Al Arabiya that militias loyal to the regime had also burned nine children and four women.

Meanwhile, the White Helmets in Aleppo reported more than 90 bodies under the rubble that had not been recovered.

Civilian Evacuation

The legal adviser of the Free Syrian Army, Osama Abu Zayd, appealed to the international community to help provide assistance for the evacuation of civilians and guarantee their freedom and safety, stressing that the FSA was willing to exit if there were international guarantees for them.

Zayd stressed that the Syrian regime forces are forcing those fleeing from Aleppo to fight on their side.

UN ‘alarmed’

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is alarmed by reports of atrocities against “a large number” of civilians, including women and children, in recent hours in the Syrian city of Aleppo, his spokesman said Monday.

“While stressing that the United Nations is not able to independently verify these reports, the secretary-general is conveying his grave concern to the relevant parties,” said spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Ban has asked his envoy Staffan de Mistura to follow up.

“The United Nations underlines the obligation of all parties on the ground to protect civilians and abide by international humanitarian and human rights law,” Dujarric said.

“This is particularly the responsibility of the Syrian government and its allies,” notably Russia and Iran, he added.

Assad Aleppo take over

Syria’s army and its allies have taken full control of all Aleppo districts abandoned by rebels during their retreat in the city, a Syrian military source said on Tuesday.

On Monday rebel defenses collapsed, leading to a broad army advance across more than half of the remaining insurgent pocket in Aleppo and a retreat of opposition fighters to a few districts on the west bank of the city’s river.

Recapturing the entire rebel pocket of Aleppo will constitute the biggest battlefield victory yet for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his military coalition of Russia’s air force, Iran and Shiite militias.

For rebels, it will mark a sobering loss and leave them without a significant presence in any of Syria’s main cities. They still hold much of the countryside west of Aleppo and the province of Idlib, also in northwest Syria.

[vuukle]