UNICEF calls for urgent action to help over 100,000 children trapped in war-torn Aleppo

Anthony Lake, the executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), on Friday called for an urgent action to help more than 100,000 children who are currently "trapped in the horror" in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Lake's statement was prompted by a photo story of a five-year boy, identified as Omrah Daqneesh, who was pulled from a damaged building after an airstrike in the northern Syrian city.

"What human being can see the stunned suffering of Omran Dagneesh, the small boy rescued from a destroyed building in Aleppo, Syria, and not feel an overwhelming sense of empathy?" Lake said.

"Can we not extend the same empathy to the more than 100,000 children also trapped in the horror that is Aleppo? They are all suffering things no child should suffer -- or even see," he said.

"And empathy is not enough. Outrage is not enough. Empathy and outrage must be matched by action," he said.

"Children of Omran's age in Syria have known nothing but the horror of this war waged by adults," he said. "We all should demand that those same adults bring an end to the nightmare of Aleppo's children."

At least 51 people were killed Saturday as a result of rebels' shelling and airstrikes in Syria's northern city of Aleppo, reports said early this month.

At least 45 civilians were killed in Aleppo and to the west of the city, and another 22 died in neighbouring Idlib province, reports said early this week.

Aleppo, Syria's largest province and once a thriving economic metropolis, has witnessed intensified violent battles lately as both the Syrian government troops and the opposition fighters have stepped up their game in the hope of achieving more gains in that key province. Endit