More trapped East Aleppo residents die in air raids

Fierce between pro-regime forces and Syrian rebel fighters continued through the night in Aleppo on Friday night, focused mainly in the Jabal Budur area and the Sheikh Lufti and Masaken Hanano neighbourhoods.

Heavy shelling also reported in the city resulting in a number of civilian deaths in the rebel-held section of the city.

In regime-controlled West Aleppo a child was reportedly killed as a result of rebel shelling in al-Midan, with civilian casualties also reported from rebel shelling in the regime-controlled town of al-Zahra, north of Aleppo, regime media claimed.

But the worst of the violence came from Syrian regime warplanes which bombed several areas of the Aleppo countryside including Urum al-Kubra, Khan al-Asal and Rif al-Mohandesin resulting in a number of deaths, with similar attacks in East Aleppo ongoing on Saturday.

Hundreds have died in East Aleppo in recent weeks as a result of indiscriminate bombardment with living conditions for the estimated 250,000 people in the area amongst the worst in all of Syria.

Speaking on Friday Raed al-Saleh, head of the Syrian Civil Defence - better known as the White Helmets - said that civilians trapped in the area had less than ten days to receive aid or face starvation and death due to a lack of medical supplies and medical care.

All of East Aleppo's hospitals are said to have been rendered out of service by devastating airstrikes.

This week desperate East Aleppo citizens recorded a plea for help that has since been widely distributed via the internet.

"How many hospitals or schools does it take to see real actions against war crimes in Syria? It can't get more gruesome than this," asks Dr Hamza Khatib, speaking in the recorded plea.

"Don't look back years from now and wish that you can do something; you can still."

According to Khatib at least 2,300 documented strikes have hit eastern Aleppo in the last 23 days.

Pro-regime forces have used explosive barrels, artillery, cluster bombs, bunker-busters, bombs loaded with chlorine gas, in order to pummel rebel groups and civilians into submission.

On Thursday UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura expressed concern that Aleppo could be decimated by Christmas if bombardment continues at its current pace.

He called on Moscow to put pressure on the Assad regime to discontinue its unrelenting campaign on East Aleppo.

Rebels in East Aleppo are said to have agreed to a United Nations plan for aid delivery and medical evacuations from the area.

But to date the UN has not been given the green light by the Syrian regime or its Russian backers.