Children of Syria’s Aleppo bear brunt of violent onslaught

In this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016, photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows a Civil Defense worker carrying the survived child Ghazal Akhtarini, from under the rubles after airstrikes hit al-Shaar neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria. Nearly 100 children were killed in a single week in Aleppo as Syrian and Russian warplanes sought to bombard into submission the rebel eastern districts of the city that have held out against Syrian government forces for five years. Without hope for the future, no regular schooling and little access to nutritious food, the children of Aleppo and their parents struggle to survive and fear the threat an imminent ground offensive. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP) In this Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016, photo provided by the Syrian Civil Defense group known as the White Helmets, shows a Civil Defense worker carrying the survived child Ghazal Akhtarini, from under the rubles after airstrikes hit al-Shaar neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria. Nearly 100 children were killed in a single week in Aleppo as Syrian and Russian warplanes sought to bombard into submission the rebel eastern districts of the city that have held out against Syrian government forces for five years. Without hope for the future, no regular schooling and little access to nutritious food, the children of Aleppo and their parents struggle to survive and fear the threat an imminent ground offensive. (Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP)

By Associated Press September 30, 2016 6 min read

BEIRUT (AP) – The 6-year-old girl was found trapped under the rubble of her home, destroyed by an airstrike in Syria’s rebel-held city of Aleppo. “Dust!” she wailed as rescue workers pried away the stones and debris on top of her, finally freeing her and placing her on a stretcher as she screamed for her father.

“Forget the dust. I’ll wash your face and give you water. Come on, sweetheart,” one rescuer said.

Bruised and battered but alive, Ghazl Qassem was among the lucky survivors of the attack earlier this week. Four days later, rescue workers were still digging Friday through the rubble of the apartment building after pulling out the bodies of 20 people, including nine children, most from Ghazl’s family. They were searching for at least three others believed inside.

At least 96 children are among the 320 people killed in Aleppo since a cease-fire collapsed on Sept. 19, according to UNICEF, as Syrian and Russian warplanes barrage the city’s eastern opposition neighborhoods, trying to crush more than five years of resistance there. Almost a third of the 840 people wounded over the same period are children, according to the World Health Organization.

“Aleppo is one of the most dangerous places in the world, and in the last week it has become perhaps the most dangerous place in the world for children.” Juliette Touma, regional chief of communications for the U.N children’s agency told The Associated Press.