Syrian state media has broadcast a live interview with a woman fleeing east Aleppo in which she says her children were killed by regime air strikes.
The footage, broadcast by a Syrian news channel on Monday, was filmed in a neighbourhood of the city which has been flooded with civilians fleeing violence as the frontline in the battle for control moves rapidly.
“Where is your family, your children?” the reporter asks, to be told that “They were killed by military jets.”
Stumped, the reporter replies, “Well there must have been armed people nearby,” at which point a man to the left of the frame agrees with her, saying: “Yes, there were armed men around.”
The interviewer then turns her attention elsewhere.
More than 400 civilians in east Aleppo have been killed in the last month because of regime shelling and bombing, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) estimates, with the toll likely to increase since Monday’s rapid advance on remaining rebel neighbourhoods by government forces.
At least 130 have been killed by rebel rocket fire on the regime-controlled west side of the city too, SOHR said.
Around 500,000 - 100,000 civilians are thought to still be trapped in the remaining pockets of rebel resistance in the city, although precise figures are hard to verify.
Thousands have fled the fighting since President Bashar al-Assad stepped up the assault to retake Aleppo for good two weeks ago.
Some of those who are left have been prevented from leaving by rebels, which include among their number al-Qaeda allied fighters. Others are afraid of what Syria’s secret police has in store for them once the city falls.
More than 6,000 men who have crossed into government controlled territory in the last month have disappeared after being detained by the regime, the UN says.
A last minute Russian and Turkish ceasefire which went into effect Tuesday evening was quickly broken on Wednesday morning after accusations of violations from both sides.
Turkish President Recip Erdogan has said he and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are meeting Wednesday evening to try and resurrect a truce, but with disapproval from Tehran and the Syrian army on the brink of victory, it is unlikely to succeed.
