Scottish Catholic Observer

by Amanda Connelly

Hundreds of thousands of people have reportedly been stranded in the east of Aleppo (above) without food, humanitarian aid, or medical treatment for several weeks.

At the recent World Youth Day celebrations in Krakow Pope Francis called for prayers for those in war-torn Syria, while Rand Mittri, a young Syrian woman who works in a Salesian centre in Aleppo offering told the Pope and the over 1.6 million pilgrims present that ‘the meaning of our lives has been cancelled. We are the forgotten’.

Aleppo was once home to one the biggest and oldest Christian communities in the Middle-East, around two-thirds of the Christians that lived there have now left.

In July this year rebel groups in Syria launched an offensive in order to try and break the governmental siege on the area, meaning that only a tiny proportion of those living in Aleppo are making use humanitarian corridors to escape the ongoing bombardment as they do not trust the safety of the routes.

Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s special envoy to Syria, said that in three weeks basic necessities could run out in the area.

Save the Children Syria believes that around 35% of casualties in Aleppo are children, while with their in country director Sonia Khush saiying the east of the city has seen bombings that have left many children injured or dead, with homes and hospitals being destroyed.