Charlotte Man Trying to Contact Grandmother in Aleppo, Syria

CHARLOTTE, NC – Around 50,000 civilians are trapped amid intense bombing in Aleppo, Syria. The humanitarian crisis continues to worsen in that country’s civil war.

“What’s happening in Aleppo now is unbelievable, unimaginable,” says Charlotte resident Osama Idlibi.
Idlibi was born in Aleppo.

He says Syrians have dealt with violence and oppression for decades under the Assad regime.
But what he’s seeing now is unlike anything in the past.

“They’re lawlessly blowing up neighborhoods, literally taking people out of their homes and killing them,” Idlibi explains.

The Syrian government is close to taking Eastern Aleppo back from rebel-controlled forces.

A cease-fire meant to give civilians time to escape broke down.

Now 50,000 people are trapped, including Idlibi’s grandmother.

“My heart is broken because we’re trying to talk to her. We’re trying to reach her, just to know that she’s OK, just to know that she’s still alive,” he says.

Inside Aleppo some have been able to post social media videos sharing their fear as regime forces closed in.

Idlibi says his biggest frustration is that the US and other countries have done little to help.

“What are we doing about it? What are we Americans doing about it? We’re sitting there watching,” he says. “It’s going to be devastating, because history is going to come back and haunt us it’s going to haunt our conscience.”