Beseiged eastern Aleppo 10 days from collapse - White Helmets' chief

Record ID: 77414

  • Title: Beseiged eastern Aleppo 10 days from collapse - White Helmets' chief
  • Date: 24th November 2016
  • Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (NOVEMBER 24, 2016) (REUTERS) HEAD OF WHITE HELMETS, RAED AL SALEH, BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF WHITE HELMETS, RAED AL SALEH, SAYING: "I think that we will start losing people due to starvation and due to a lack of medical emergency materials in less than 10 days." AL SALEH TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF WHITE HELMETS, RAED AL SALEH, SAYING: "The problem we, the White Helmets, are facing is that all our centres in Aleppo have been bombed and we are now working, as I've told you, with materials we had put aside as a back-up, and the materials that we were able to retrieve from the rubble, and with equipment that was not destroyed. I think that we, the White Helmets, according to the information that I have, can continue for a month, to help people under the rubble, however we do not provide surgical operations as doctors do and I think this is the problem in hospitals now, for the injured. We may be able to hold on for a month." AL SALEH'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF WHITE HELMETS, RAED AL SALEH, SAYING: "Yes. We have responded inside Aleppo to almost 10 attacks by chlorine gas."
  • Embargoed: 9th December 2016 19:00
  • Keywords: Syria White Helmets rescue Aleppo Right Livelihood Award
  • Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN AND SAID TO BE KASSARA, ALEPPO, SAID TO BE IDLIB AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, SYRIA
  • City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN AND SAID TO BE KASSARA, ALEPPO, SAID TO BE IDLIB AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, SYRIA
  • Country: Sweden
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace
  • Reuters ID: LVA00259T27NR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
    The inhabitants of besieged eastern Aleppo have less than 10 days to receive outside aid or face starvation and death from a lack of medical supplies, the head of the Syria Civil Defence, or "White Helmets", said on Thursday (November 24).
    The volunteer group that has rescued thousands of people from buildings bombed in the civil war is also running out fast of basic equipment, from trucks to diesel and gas masks, after dealing with a series of suspected chemical attacks in the last few weeks.
    "I think even before 10 days we'll start losing people because of the lack of first aid kits and because of starvation for some people," Raed Al Saleh told Reuters through a translator. Saleh was in Stockholm to receive the Right Livelihood Award, known as Sweden's "alternative Nobel prize".
    Rebels in besieged eastern Aleppo have agreed to a U.N. plan for aid delivery and medical evacuations, but the United Nations is awaiting a green light from Russia and the Syrian government, humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday.
    With freezing winter conditions setting in, about 275,000 people are trapped in east Aleppo, where the last U.N. food rations were distributed on November 13.
    The White Helmets shared the award this year with Egyptian feminist and human rights activist Mozn Hassan, Russia's Svetlana Gannushkina, who campaigns for the rights of migrants and refugees, and independent Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet.
    The four laureates will share a cash award of 3 million Swedish crowns (352,000 U.S. dollars).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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