Syrian rebels release hundreds of inmates out of Aleppo prison.

Syrian rebels release hundreds of inmates out of Aleppo prison.(Telegraph).By Ruth Sherlock.

Syrian rebels have breached part of Aleppo’s central prison, releasing several hundred inmates in a bloody firefight with regime troops, activists have reported.

The prison, which the rebels have been laying siege to for almost a year, has become a military base for the Syrian army but still has up to 4000 prisoners languishing in their cells, disease-riven and surviving on pitiful amounts of food.

Up to 300 prisoners were released in the operation, which was led by Jabhat al-Nusra, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda, and Ahrar al-Sham, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent have tried to bring food rations to the prisoners and rescue those who have finished their sentences, often having to cross front lines to do so.

One Red Crescent member, who wished to remain anonymous, last year told the news site Syria Deeply of the desperate living conditions. Prisoners, they said, are suffering from overcrowding, and lack of food. With little water available, diseases, including scabies and tuberculosis, are rife.

An unknown number of prisoners have died from disease during the course of the siege, while others have been killed in their cells as a result of the fighting between the rebels and regime troops.
Unable to take them out, the victims have reportedly been buried in a mass grave inside the prison. 

Syria - Twenty-eight Martyrs, 235 Wounded in Twin Terrorist Bomb Blasts in Aleppo City. (Warning: some extremely graphic pictures)

Syria - Twenty-eight Martyrs, 235 Wounded in Twin Terrorist Bomb Blasts in Aleppo City. (Warning: some extremely graphic pictures).(Sana).ALEPPO –The death toll of the twin terrorist bomb blasts which hit Aleppo city on Friday raised to twenty-eight martyrs and 235 wounded, including soldiers, civilians and children, Ministry of Health said in a statement.
The two terrorist bombings targeted Military Security Branch at the western bypass and headquarters of law-enforcement forces in al-Arkoub area in Aleppo city.
Damage to the buildings appeared extensive. Aleppo has thus far been spared much of the violence that has ravaged other areas, notably Homs, Syria’s third largest city 100 miles to the south. Aleppo, like Damascus, the capital, has been considered a stronghold of support for Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for more than 40 years.
The bombings caused great damage to the two headquarters and the nearby residential buildings.
Medical teams are helping injured civilians and military members and pulling bodies from under the rubble.
Minister of Health Wael al-Halki said that the toll is poised to rise due to the critical condition of some of the injured and the ongoing rescue operations, hailing the people of Aleppo who rushed to donate blood.He affirmed that all medical cadres at state and private medical hospitals joined their work so as to serve their national and humanitarian duty in saving the lives of the injured, adding that the Ministry has a strategic storage of medicine necessary for emergency cases. Read and see (18+ extremely graphic) the full story here.