A group of people stands proud against a horizon crumbles. The exhaustion of their cause is written on their faces.
Dressed in the uniforms of their trades, the men hold flags of the Syrian opposition, while a woman grabs a baby.
They are a coalition of activists including doctors and civil servants from rebel-held areas of Aleppo.
In an unusual message in English, this group of people sent a desperate plea asking the US-led coalition to send humanitarian aid from the air.
In the video appears a man known as Dr. Hamza al-Khatib, who stands in the middle of the group, takes the floor and speaks in English.
It makes a dark journey of the misery of Aleppo based on figures of that collation of activists:
- 500,000 people killed in six years
- At least 271,536 people trapped in eastern Aleppo, controlled by the rebels, he says, citing the City Council of Aleppo
- At least 2,300 bombardments documented in the last 23 days: air strikes, explosive barrels, artillery, cluster bombs, gas-charged bombs
- 4 hospitals hit in the last week, along with six schools, civil defense buildings and two bakeries.
- At least 271,536 people trapped in eastern Aleppo, controlled by the rebels, he says, citing the City Council of Aleppo
- At least 2,300 bombardments documented in the last 23 days: air strikes, explosive barrels, artillery, cluster bombs, gas-charged bombs
- 4 hospitals hit in the last week, along with six schools, civil defense buildings and two bakeries.
CNN can not independently verify the death toll in Syria, but the United Nations says the number is 400,000.
Al-Khatib accuses the Russian and Syrian air forces of intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure to "break the will of the people," despite Russia's refusal to attack civilian infrastructure.
People who starve, dying, with little or no access to medical care, are afraid to go to hospitals, he says, for fear of becoming victims of the latest bombings.
The last six years have been a "slow-motion train clash" leaving him and his colleagues wondering what the United Nations is for.The doctor calls on the international community to press for the following:
To ground the Bashar al-Assad air force or use diplomatic influence to end the bombing of Russia and Syria against the city.
Open a demilitarized corridor under the control of the United Nations to bring food, fuel, medicine and infrastructure, as well as supplements for water stations, electricity, hospitals, schools and civil defense.
If this is not possible, they call for the launching of humanitarian aid from the sky using United States-led coalition planes in Syria.
The international community has the fate of Aleppo in their hands, he says. Will he pay attention to their cry?
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