Aleppo now a 'city of innocent blood' says Syrian-Canadian doctor

A Syrian-Canadian doctor managinga medical team on the ground in Aleppo says he fears for the lives of his colleagues as the Syrian government takes over control of the city.

Dr. AnasAl-Kassem, a Syrian-Canadian who was born in that country butnow works as a surgeon inSimcoe, Ont., has been trying to get hisdoctors and nurses out of the war-torn city, with no success.

"They're facing death in the last stages of this war,"said Al-Kassem, who chairs the Union of Syrian Medical Relief.

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"We told them you have to leave, we know what's going to happen to you,"he said in an interview Tuesday on Metro Morning.

"The regime is not going to leave anything in that city."

Al-Kassem said the team of 30 doctors and 70 nurses were given the chance to leave Syria about six months ago, but they felt they needed to stay to help.

Since then, Al-Kassem has been appealing to anyone who can establish a way out for the team.

"We've had some negotiations with Russia, with the UN on their behalf, everything has failed."

A city destroyed

Al-Kassem travelled to Aleppo frequently to support the medical aid efforts in Syria over the past five years. He says he can't recognize the city anymore.

"Everything is rubble,"he said. "It's a city of ghosts, a city of innocent blood."

The doctor is still in touch with his team on the ground in the city, and he says the stories they are relaying are heartbreaking.

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"I'm just hearing sad stories of the regime taking the city from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and killing, shelling and firing on women in children."

"I'm deeply depressed,"he said. "I was born in Syria and I know what this regime can do."