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Aleppo braces for 'war of all wars' as regime prepares to retake key Syrian city
Josie Ensor
29 April 2016 • 5:41pm
Aleppo saw one of its bloodiest days since the ceasefire began on Friday, as government forces laid the groundwork for a “war of all wars” to retake Syria’s second city.
The carnage of the last few days has propelled Aleppo - bitterly contested since 2012 and considered the jewel of Syria - once again to the main battlefield in the civil war.
The Syrian regime pounded rebel areas in the city with air raids, including on another medical clinic, while opposition fighters hit government-held neighbourhoods with rocket and artillery fire.
Friday prayers were cancelled across Aleppo for only the second time during the five-year war, so worried were residents that they would be targeted if they gathered in groups.
With more than 100 killed in the past 48 hours, an average of one Syrian was dying every 25 minutes.
An Arabic hashtag translating as "Aleppo is burning" was re-tweeted hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter yesterday alongside pictures of children being pulled from smoking rubble. 
Fadi Hakim, a doctor from Aleppo who set up the clinic in the district of Marja that was bombed on Friday morning, told the Telegraph “it has been some of the worst days we’ve ever seen.”
He said residents have now become too afraid to leave their homes to get medical treatment. 
“They (the regime) are deliberately targeting medical centres again and again - it is very clear. Doctors have had to suspend their work as it has just become too dangerous.
“When I saw the attack on the clinic my heart broke, I planted the flowers in the garden there myself. There are no terrorists there, just doctors and patients.”
Minutes after the regime struck Mr Hakim’s clinic, it announced a short-term truce in other parts of the country - including the outskirts of the capital Damascus and around the port city of Latakia in the northwest.
It was reported that the United States had asked for Aleppo to be included, but the Russians refused.
The UN rights chief condemned the “shameful” international response to the escalating violence, accusing the two major powers backing warring sides of becoming "accomplices" in the bloodshed.
While in a letter to the Telegraph, scores of senior doctors in Aleppo appealed directly to Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama to save the faltering ceasefire, which they said was crumbling on their watch.
“Please heed the call of the UN Special Envoy to Syria to take urgent steps to rescue Syria's cessation of hostilities and end attacks on civilians,” they wrote.
“As doctors working on the frontlines of the war in Aleppo, we viewed the cessation of hostilities that was brokered in February with scepticism. Over the last week, our worst fears were driven home in the most horrific circumstances. 
“The city is bleeding.”
Aleppo, where roughly 1.5 million people still live, is bracing for a final offensive by the Syrian army, backed by Russian warplanes. According to reports, Russia has been moving artillery from its bases in Syria for the last two weeks in preparation. Meanwhile a week of regime airstrikes has weakened rebels and sent thousands of residents running.
Pro-government al-Thawra newspaper warned rebels on its front page on Friday that a "war of all wars" will be unleashed on them in the coming days.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/29/aleppo-braces-for-war-of-all-wars-as-regime-prepares-to-retake-k/