‘We
were living in security and peace. These areas are being targeted,
they want to force us to leave. Every Syrian is being targeted,’
one Syrian religious leader told a delegation of reporters who
visited Aleppo earlier this month.
by
Eva Bartlett
Part
5 - Humanitarian crossings: shelling of Castello road
On Nov. 4,
prior to our 9:30 a.m. arrival at the Bustan al-Qasr crossing and
until our departure an hour later, no one had been able to cross from
the area just beyond crossing, which is occupied by Jaysh al-Fatah
militants.
Two weeks
prior to our arrival, journalists had reported that terrorist
factions heavily shelled the crossing and areas around it starting in
the early morning.
A Syrian
general at the crossing confirmed that shelling had taken place on
Oct. 20, adding that three police officers had been wounded. A
journalist in the delegation asked the general what he would say to
Syrian civilians like Bashir Shehadeh, who demanded that the SAA
eliminate the terrorist factions.
“We
need to be patient, because the civilians there are not able to
leave, they are not guilty,” the general replied. “We
don’t work the way that the terrorists work.”
Regarding
the amnesty decree issued by President Bashar Assad in late July, the
general explained that terrorists who want to be granted amnesty
could lay down their arms. Those who choose to go on to Idlib would
be granted safe passage by the Syrian government and army, in
coordination with the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
According to
the general, when two militants arrived at the Bustan al-Qasr
crossing about two months ago, they surrendered their arms and
proceeded under amnesty.
Five months
ago, he said, 12 civilians crossed there, were treated in Aleppo’s
hospitals, and returned to their homes in terrorist-held eastern
Aleppo.
At the
Castello Road humanitarian crossing, the large green buses which were
said to be evacuating militants from areas of eastern Aleppo in
recent weeks were there again, waiting to ferry away more. Ten
ambulances, three buses, and 14 minivans were lined up in
anticipation of any civilians or militants trying to leave
terrorist-occupied areas, whether for safe passage elsewhere or to
settle in government-secured areas of Aleppo.
George Sire,
25, an anesthesiologist at Salloum Hospital in Aleppo, was one of the
volunteers who arrived at the crossing with five of the private
hospital’s ambulances, at the request of the Syrian government.
When
speaking with a Syrian commander about permitting men who had used
arms against Syrian civilians and soldiers to lay down their arms and
reconcile, he said they are sons of the country and urged them to
reconcile.
At around
1:30 p.m. the first shell struck, hitting near Castello Road. About
10 minutes later, while I was being interviewed, a second hit, this
time considerably closer, within 100 meters — close enough, in
fact, to create a cloud of dark smoke over the road. It prompted
security to usher me away from the road and move our delegation away
from the crossing.
I later
learned that another five shells targeted the crossing, injuring a
Syrian journalist and two Russian soldiers.
No one
passed through this or any of the other seven humanitarian corridors
that day.
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