The Latest: UN releases images of damage in Syria’s Aleppo
BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Syrian civil war (all times local):
12:10 p.m.
The U.N. has released satellite images showing most recent destruction of Syria’s embattled northern city of Aleppo. Officials with the U.N.’s satellite imagery program say new pictures from rebel-held parts of Aleppo show “an awful lot of new damage” — presumably by airstrikes.
Lars Bromley of UNOSAT says the commercial images from Digital Globe, obtained by the U.N. agency through an arrangement with the U.S. State Department, show mostly “formerly blasted and blown-up areas” during Syria’s 5-1/2-year war “experiencing a great deal of additional damage.”
He told reporters on Wednesday in Geneva: “To a certain extent you’re looking at rubble being pushed around.”
The images mostly show before-and-after pictures from mid to late September showing destruction of buildings, including homes, after the breakdown of a short-lived U.S. and Russia-brokered cease-fire.
One image, dated Saturday, shows the damage to a school or athletic facility in Aleppo’s Owaija district.
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11 a.m.
Turkish military officials say two Syrian opposition fighters and a Turkish soldier were killed in clashes with Islamic State militants in northern Syria. At least 18 IS fighters were also killed.
The officials said on Wednesday that the two rebels were killed in battles southwest of the town of al-Rai, during which the Turkish backed-opposition forces took control of four residential areas: Turkmen Bari, Kuaybah, Boztepe and Hardanah.
Separately, a Turkish soldier was killed and three others were slightly wounded in fighting in the opposition-held area of Ziyara, which a group of IS militants tried to infiltrate.
The Turkish military officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Turkey sent troops and tanks into Syria in August to help Syrian rebels re-take IS strongholds near the border.
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