Assad troops shoot Aleppo civilians on spot, says UN

Thousands of civilians are trapped in Aleppo with “nowhere safe to run” and at least 82 have already been “shot on the spot” as tyrant Bashar Assad’s forces sweep through the city’s last remaining rebel stronghold.

Pro-government troops were said to be entering homes and executing civilians, with 11 women and 13 children among the 82 dead, according to Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN human rights office.

He said there were reports of “numerous bodies lying on the streets.

The residents were unable to retrieve them due to the intense bombardment and their fear of being shot on sight”.

The UN described a “complete meltdown of humanity”. Aleppo residents and activists told of their “hell” and “the most horrible massacre in our history”.

As some reports put the civilian death toll in the hundreds, Boris Johnson was set to warn that “the bloodiest tragedy of the 21st century” was unfolding.

The Foreign Secretary was also set to say President Assad’s capture of the city would “turn to ashes in his mouth” as the civil war rages on in Syria.

The International Committee of the Red Cross made a desperate plea to Russia and Assad to stop the relentless bombing of eastern Aleppo to spare civilian lives.

It warned that thousands of people with no part in the violence “have literally nowhere safe to run”.

Marianne Gasser, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Syria, said: “We appeal to the parties to put humanity ahead of military objectives.”

The appeals ap-pear to have fallen on deaf ears in Moscow and Damascus, as rebels have been forced out of more and more of the city and its total recapture is in sight.

The Syrian military, backed by Iranian forces, Shia militias and Russian airstrikes, has claimed it now controls 99 per cent of Aleppo. Reports of mass executions could not be confirmed, but up to 50,000 civilians were believed to be trapped in a small section of the city. Syrian opposition activists said regime forces were carrying out summary killings in areas captured yesterday.

Russia’s defence ministry said the rebels were holding out in a neighbourhood roughly three square kilometres (just over a square mile) in size.

Retaking Aleppo, which has been split be-tween rebel and government-controlled zones since 2012, would be Assad’s biggest victory yet in the civil war.

But Mr Johnson was due to tell the Commons: “Assad’s conquest of Aleppo will not mark the end of the war.

This victory will turn to ashes in his mouth because even if he reimposes his rule over the rubble, about two thirds of Syria will still be outside his control.