Mayor of eastern Aleppo begs EU to send forces to help get civilians out of besieged city or 50,000 could be massacred
Brita Hagi Hasan pleaded with the EU to adopt a “courageous position” as he spoke outside EU headquarters
THE MAYOR of eastern Aleppo warned he feared 50,000 civilians are about to be “massacred” as he shamed EU leaders in Brussels.
Brita Hagi Hasan begged the EU to adopt a “courageous position” as he spoke outside EU headquarters - two months after it dropped a threat to issue new sanctions on Russia.
He urged the bloc to send “some forces” to monitor the evacuation of civilians from the carnage.
And he said: “ We never asked any country to go to war… we only ask to save civilians and some corridors for their evacuation.”
The Mayor was speaking as the first wounded were evacuated from Aleppo. EU leaders were expected to announce their latest plan to help Syrians caught up in the bitter civil war after talks at the end-of-year EU Council.
In October, the EU leaders baulked at a UK-backed plan to threaten Russia with new sanctions unless the atrocities in Syria were brought to an end.
The phrase was dropped from a communiqué at the last minute after opposition from ex-Italian PM Matteo Renzi.
Today the EU Council was only expected to condemn the violence and discuss sending humanitarian aid.
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Before the meeting began, Theresa May once more attacked President Assad and Russia – saying they “bear responsibility for the tragedy” in Aleppo.
French President Francois Hollande condemned Russia for making commitments “it is not keeping”. He stormed: “Now it is time for us to conclude a ceasefire.
"We can't leave women, men and children to suffer bombing, have their safety threatened, be taken by force and treated in such an undignified manner.”
He added: "The regimes that support (Syrian President) Bashar Assad will have to take responsibility for this extremely serious situation."
