UN calls for aid access, civilian evacuations in Syria’s Aleppo

People inspect the damage at a site hit by a barrel bomb in the rebel held area of Old Aleppo, Syria July 11, 2016. (SourceL Reuters/Abdalrhman Ismail)

The United Nations said on Tuesday it was deeply concerned about increased fighting in and around the Syrian city of Aleppo and called for humanitarian aid access and the safe and rapid evacuation of civilians.

UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a regular UN briefing in Geneva that intensified hostilities between government forces and armed groups had cut 300,000 people in eastern Aleppo off from humanitarian supplies and commercial goods, and prices in the city were already rising.