'I'm pulling dead children from the rubble': British rescue worker's plea to the world from besieged Syrian city
Video report by ITV News International Affairs Editor Rageh Omaar
A British rescue worker near the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo has described having to pull dead children and babies from the rubble of buildings destroyed in regime airstrikes.
Mohammed Shakiel, who is from Birmingham and describes himself as a humanitarian activist working in the Aleppo countryside, told ITV News that he wanted to show the world "the truth of what is happening inside Syria".
He said innocent men, women and children are dying under constant bombardment every day as President Bashar al-Assad's forces - backed by their Russian allies - continue their relentless assault.
"The situation inside Syria is real and it's getting worse everyday."
Mr Shakiel estimates that about 70% of those he pulls from the rubble of buildings are children - and that more than half of them are under five years old.
Video footage shows him driving his ambulance to the site of night-time air raids, sometimes arriving while the raid is ongoing.
Frightened civilians help the injured into the ambulance, and later footage shows Mr Shakiel carrying the bleeding body of a child into a hospital.
His insight into the suffering comes after the United Nations warned that Aleppo, a city of two million people, is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe with thousands trapped in "medieval and shameful" conditions.
Mr Shakiel , who says he has worked in the war-torn country as a volunteer "on and off" for nearly five years, said the Assad regime and Russian forces were bombing "hugely civilian populated areas".
He also said many were being injured in airstrikes by American, French and other coalition raids.
He described his work as providing food and medical aid, helping with schooling and carrying out search and rescue operations.
"Even at times when we've been working, rescuing civilians from an airstrike, we've been hit in the same location," he said.
He called for those outside Syria to take notice of what was going on in the war-torn country and to call on their governments to work to end the violence.
His comments echo those of humanitarian organisations, including Unicef which on Thursday released a statement deploring what it called "shocking attacks" in Qamishli and Idlib which left at least 32 children injured.
The UN agency has also expressed grave concern about the situation in Aleppo.
Russia announced on Thursday that humanitarian corridors would be opened ahead of the offensive.
But the eastern part of the city has been cut off for weeks, leaving 300,000 people effectively stranded.
Kieran Dwyer, Unicef's communications chief in Syria, told ITV News there needed to be food, clean water and healthcare for the people of Aleppo.
"Children and their families in Aleppo, in the east and in the west, need to be able to live without the fear of bombardments of any kind," he said.
"They need to be able to get safe healthcare, and they need to know that food and clean water is freely available on a day-to-day basis, and they should not fear starvation or killing from fighting around them."