A Syrian rebel plays football in the Saif al-Dawlah neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. (AP)
As Aleppo’s children get bombed, Syrian regime plan football match
‘They bomb us and kills us, then invite us to a match…Some kind of a sick joke?’, asks a doctor in Eastern Aleppo
Leila Alwan
Published:
Updated:
The Syrian regime announced on Wednesday a football match to take place on Thursday at Al Hamdaniya stadium in Aleppo.
Al Hamdaniya football stadium is very close to the frontline where opposition forces and Syrian regime soldiers continue to battle.
Messages via cell phones were sent to many armed rebels inviting them to come join the Syrian army in a football match.
Messages read in Arabic saying: “O armed forces in Eastern Aleppo! Aleppo’s province invites you to watch and join a friendly football match… in good faith the nation wishes for reconciliation.”
About 250,000 people in eastern Aleppo have been under siege since President Bashar Assad’s army, aided by Iranian-backed militias and Russian jets, cut off the last road in early July.
The last operating hospital in the rebel-held district was destroyed by Russian fighter jets last week, leaving the besieged people without access to medical care.
A doctor in Eastern Aleppo told Al Arabiya English: “They bomb us and kills us, then invite us to a football match. What is this? Some kind of a sick joke?”
