Aleppo cemeteries run out of room to bury victims of bloody conflict

Bodies are being left to rot on the streets or buried in backyards in the Syrian city of Aleppo because there is no room left in the cemeteries.

Officials said a graveyard opened last year was already full while the old cemetery had reached capacity even before the bloody civil war began four years ago.

Since the conflict has intensified, residents have had to resort to desperate measures to bury their dead.

Medical officials have said it is impossible to dig graves because it is too dangerous with Syrian troops attacking rebel-held areas.

They also said ambulances and rescue vehicles cannot reach people because they have been targeted or fuel has run out.

The head of the local forensic authority, Mohammed Abu Jaafar said: "We have no more room. I have 20 to 25 bodies from different parts of Aleppo that we don't know where to bury.

"Even if I were to consider mass burials, I don't have the machines to do the digging."

Residents of one neighbourhood only discovered a body was lying in a ditch when a cat started eating the corpse.

More than 300 people have been killed in the Damascus regime's assault on east Aleppo in the past three weeks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Prior to the ground offensive, airstrikes knocked out all seven medical facilities, including five equipped with trauma and intensive care units.

It is understood doctors have set up small clinics underground to avoid detection, but are only able to give only basic care.

One nurse who works in one of the makeshift medical facilities said some wounded had died as they waited for treatment while others perished after surgery because of the cold weather.

There are also concerns the bodies piled up on roadsides will reveal the secret locations of the clinics.

Meanwhile, Syria's army has given rebel fighters an ultimatum to leave eastern Aleppo or face "inevitable death".

The warning came as government forces and its allies continue to advance on rebel-held areas.

Brigadier General Samir Suleiman said: "We will continue fighting until we restore stability and security to all neighbourhoods."

Residents have also started to go back to their abandoned homes as Syrian forces have recaptured half of the rebel areas in east Aleppo.

At least 10 buses made the trip from the west of the city to the east on Saturday with every seat and standing room taken.

"I haven't been to my house for almost six years," said Hala Hassan Fares, who was on one bus with her husband and son.

"Our house is totally burned, but we're going to see my father, who is 80-years-old.

"He stayed behind there, with my sisters and other relatives."

Many families arrived back home to a scene of devastation with rubble strewn streets and the fronts of buildings ripped away.