Aleppo, Tonight, as Every Night

Tonight, our thoughts are with the people of Syria caught up in this terrible war, epitomised by those  trapped under fire in Aleppo:

The siege in Aleppo is almost over. Advances by Syrian government forces and their allies have squeezed the fighters and civilians remaining in rebel-held parts of the city into a sliver of territory [...] [they are] crowded into abandoned apartments and rainy streets, exposed to shelling and afraid they would be killed or arrested if pro-government forces reached them, as antigovernment activists circulated reports of scores of summary killings in retaken areas. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said in a statement on Monday that he was alarmed by reports of atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children. It appeared increasingly likely that the government would gain control of the whole of Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, within days, if not hours. [...] That would be a turning point in the civil war, cementing government control over all of Syria’s most important cities and forcing the opposition and its backers to reckon with whether their movement, especially the armed rebellion, has failed.

Anne Barnard, 'Syrian Government Moves Closer to Completely Controlling Aleppo' New York Times Dec 12th 2016.

UPDATE Dec 13th

Pro-Assad forces execute dozens of civilians in sweep through rebel-held Aleppo, says UN

Washington Post

13th dec 2016