Syria conflict: Besieged city of Aleppo a "living hell"

Image copyright Reuters

Image caption Aleppo has been pounded by Russian and Syrian air strikes for almost two weeks

A top UN official has said civilians in the rebel-held part of the Syrian city of Aleppo are enduring a "living hell", as fighting rages on.

Stephen O"Brien urged the warring parties to allow the evacuation of hundreds of people who need urgent medical care.

Russian and Syrian air strikes have forced the largest hospital to close.

Syrian government forces have reportedly made advances on the ground after dozens of overnight air strikes.

The government is trying to re-capture the city"s eastern half, which has long been a major opposition stronghold.

It has also emerged that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry talked again on Saturday about the situation in Aleppo.

But there is still no sign of any diplomatic breakthrough that might end the bloodshed.

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"Ferocious pummelling"

"I am deeply alarmed by the ferocious pummelling of eastern Aleppo city," Mr O"Brien, UN under-secretary for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement.

"Indiscriminate bombing and shelling continues in a shocking and unrelenting manner, killing and maiming civilians, subjecting them to a level of savagery that no human should have to endure."

The healthcare system in eastern Aleppo had been "all but obliterated", he added.

On Saturday, air strikes hit Aleppo"s main trauma M10 hospital for the third time in a matter of days, medical workers say.

"The hospital is now out of service completely," radiologist Mohammad Abu Rajab was quoted by Reuters as saying.

Media captionDr Abu Rajan shows cameras around the bombed hospital

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition monitoring group, says government forces advanced in the north of the city.

Once Syria"s commercial and industrial hub, Aleppo has been divided roughly in two since 2012.

At least 250,000 people have been killed in the conflict since it began in March 2011 with the Observatory estimating the true number to be about 430,000.

More than 4.8 million people have fled abroad, and an estimated 6.5 million others have been displaced within the country, the UN says.

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Syria conflict: Besieged city of Aleppo a "living hell"
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