Syrian ambulance driver cares for cats abandoned by owners fleeing shelling in Aleppo
Alaa spends £2.50 each day on meat for strays
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.An ambulance driver has been buying meat every day to feed abandoned cats in a neighbourhood ravaged by war in Syria.
A man known only as Alaa has been spending about $4 (£2.50) each day on meat for the strays for the past two months.
Without Alaa to care for them, the animals would likely starve in the largely deserted district of Masaken Hanano in Aleppo. He told Reuters about 150 cats rely on him for food.
Residents fled the area because of shelling from forces loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-Assad.
The ongoing civil war in Syria has displaced an estimated 6.5 million people, with Aleppo suffering some of the worst devastation.
By August 2014, the death toll from three years of fighting had risen to more than 191,000.
On Tuesday, the US-led coalition attacking Isis targets in Syria launched air strikes on the al-Qaeda Khorasan Group in the west of the city.
Meanwhile, Syrian warplanes have dropped projectiles including "barrel bombs" - oil drums filled with explosives - in Hama, Idlib, Homs and Aleppo provinces and around Damascus, the Syrian Observatory monitoring group reported on Friday.
Five people were killed when barrel bombs were dropped on al-Rastan city in Homs province and nine died in a barrel bomb attack in the east of Aleppo, it said.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments