LATEST: Aleppo Central Prison “Not Fully Liberated” by Insurgents

THURSDAY FEATURES

UPDATE 1245 GMT: The Aleppo Media Center reports seven barrel bombs dropped on the Hanano section of Aleppo on Thursday morning.

The Center reports 16 dead and scores wounded from the bombs, one of what landed near a mosque.

The helicopters are still flying over the neighborhood, which has many displaced Syrians among its residents.

Meanwhile, fighting is reported in several areas of Syria’s largest city, including around the Central Prison. Insurgents have warned civilians not to go near regime posts.

The immediate aftermath:

Rescue workers at the site:

Rescue of a child:

The devastation:

After five days of bombardment, the Assad regime’s air attacks on Aleppo appeared to ease on Wednesday, but barrel bombs continued to fall elsewhere, including the Damascus suburb of Darayya.

The Local Coordination Committees said that 67 people were killed in Syria yesterday, including 39 in Aleppo Province.

About 400 people have died in and near Aleppo near Saturday, amid hundreds of bombs and shells on insurgent-held areas. A mass exodus of civilians appears to have been trapped at the checkpoint between the insurgent-occupied and regime-held sections of Aleppo.

In Darayya, where more than 200 bombs have struck since December 31, another 12 landed on Wednesday and 22 on Thursday. Local officials reportedly rejected a regime attempt at a “truce”, replying, “We will not sell the blood of our martyrs for a few loaves of bread —- keep sending your cannon fodder into certain death.”

Southwest of Damascus, Darayya is near Moadamiya, which surrendered to regime occupation after a siege and attacks for more than a year.

UPDATE: Aleppo Central Prison “Not Fully Liberated” by Insurgents

Sources update that the Aleppo Central Prison has not been “fully liberated” by insurgents, as claimed by premature reports earlier on Thursday.

Opposition fighters managed to get inside the prison after a large vehicle bomb — which killed Chechen leader Seyfullakh Shishani, allied with the Islamist faction Jabhat al-Nusra — but they were unable to take over as they were attacked by Syrian artillery, helicopters, and jets with cannons and barrel bombs.

Insurgents have a path into the prison but are facing pro-Assad forces who are allegedly using inmates as human shields.

Video from the Islamic Front:

Regime Official: We Agree to Evacuate Civilians and Allow Aid into Homs

After weeks of manoeuvres, Homs Governor Talal al-Barazi and the United Nations Resident Representative in Syria, Yacoub El-Hillo, have agreed the evacuation of civilians from the besieged Old City and bringing in humanitarian aid to those who remain, according to State news agency SANA.

The aid agreement was broached last month by UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi during the Geneva II conference, but Damascus held up acceptance in talks with the UN. Meanwhile, local activists and opposition officials expressed concern that the evacuation was being agreed to expose the men who remained in Homs to detention and attacks.

SANA said it saw a Foreign Ministry copy of the agreement that “gives the innocent civilians besieged in the neighborhoods of the old city of Homs, including children, women, the injured and elderly people, the chance to leave the city as soon as necessary arrangements are secured”.

A UN spokesman said:

We welcome the reports that the parties have agreed a humanitarian pause to allow civilians out of and aid into old Homs city.

The United Nations and humanitarian partners had pre-positioned food, medical and other basic supplies on the outskirts of Homs ready for immediate delivery as soon as the green light was given by the parties for its passage. Aid staff were also on standby.

Reports: Insurgents Take Over Aleppo Central Prison

Reports indicate that, after days of heavy fighting, insurgents have taken over Aleppo Central Prison.

The insurgent faction Ahrar al-Sham and the Supreme Military Command of the Free Syrian Army are among those claiming victory:

Insurgents in Aleppo have declared the prison “fully liberated”. About 300 prisoners have been released, but evacuation of others has been impeded by fortified stairways and other barriers, some of them booby-trapped.

There are still sporadic clashes, and the Syrian military is trying to hit back with tanks and airstrikes.

Seyfullakh Shishani, leader of a mainly-Chechen faction fighting alongside Jabhat al-Nusra, was killed in the final assault on the prison.

See Syria Spotlight: Insurgent Split — The Dispute Between Abu Umar al-Shishani & His Deputy, Seyfullakh the Chechen

Jabhat al-Nusra called in Liwa al-Tawhid, a leading group in the Islamic Front, which provided enough tanks and troops to complete the takeover of the prison.