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HomeNEWSWORLD NEWSPro-govt gains in Aleppo ahead of key Syria talks

Pro-govt gains in Aleppo ahead of key Syria talks

Stria, AFP, 15 OCT. 2016 – Syrian pro-government forces used intense air strikes as cover for an advance in the battleground city of Aleppo ahead of fresh diplomatic talks on Saturday to end the conflict.

 

A Syrian man carries a child as they await treatment at a hospital in the regime-held part of Aleppo, on October 13, 2016

 

 

The United States and Russia, which support opposite sides in the five-year war, will meet in Switzerland to try to resurrect the peace process.
Moscow has faced rising international criticism over its backing for President Bashar al-Assad’s onslaught in divided Aleppo, including Western accusations of possible war crimes.
Violence has continued unabated in the northern city, once Syria’s commercial hub but now ravaged by Russian and regime air strikes in support of a major government offensive against rebels.
The meeting comes after leading charities called Saturday for a ceasefire in the battered city, issuing a joint plea “to establish a ceasefire of at least 72 hours in east Aleppo”
“This will allow the sick and wounded to be evacuated, and for food and medical aid to enter the besieged area,” said a statement from Save the Children, which joined the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Oxfam International in calling for a truce.

 

 


All-out war on Aleppo

 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded opposition-controlled eastern districts again on Friday, though it did not have any immediate information on casualties.
It said pro-government forces had used the air raids to advance southwards from positions in north Aleppo with the goal of “opening a route to the airport”, east of the city.

The intensified bombardment has put a severe strain on rescue workers and medical staff in east Aleppo, home to an estimated 250,000 residents under siege.

“This recent escalation has been huge and we’ve had a lot of work,” said Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, a spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force in Aleppo.

He said rescuers were still working to dislodge people from under the rubble in the Tariq al-Bab eastern district.

– Bleeding to death –

 

AFP’s correspondent in east Aleppo said some people had been stuck under the rubble for at least two days as rescuers scrambled between neighbourhoods.

Others bled to death after White Helmets teams were unable to reach them in time.

 

 

Syrian Hadi Mustafa Habbush, 9, who was rescued from under the rubble of a building following Russian air strikes, lies on a hospital bed in the rebel-held northern embattled Syrian city of Aleppo, on October 12, 2016

 

Since the collapse last month of a truce brokered by Washington and Moscow, Aleppo has been engulfed by some of the worst violence of the conflict.

More than 370 people, including nearly 70 children, have been killed in regime and Russian bombardment of east Aleppo since the regime’s assault began on September 22, the Observatory said.

Dozens of civilians, including children, have also died in rebel bombardment of regime-controlled western districts, according to the monitor, which compiles its information from sources on the ground.

 

 

 

The Observatory said at least 15 civilians, including two children, were killed Friday in air raids on a village in northeastern Raqa province, “presumably by the US-led coalition” currently battling the Islamic State jihadist group in Syria and Iraq.

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to hold fresh talks to try to revive the ceasefire deal in Lausanne on Saturday

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will attend, along with the chief diplomats from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — all backers of Syrian opposition forces.

Iran announced late Friday that its foreign minister Mohammad Javid Zarif would take part in the Lausanne talks.

Then in London on Sunday, Kerry will likely meet up with his counterparts from Britain, France and Germany.

 

 

 


Syrian rebel fighters arrive on the outskirts of Idlib, bordering the Hama province, following their evacuation from Qudssaya and al-Hamah, rebel-held neighbourhoods of the Syrian capital, on October 14, 2016

 

Lavrov played down hopes of a breakthrough in Lausanne, telling reporters on Friday he had no “special expectations” for progress.

– Aleppo as a ‘springboard’ –

 

 

 

 

 Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a law ratifying a deal with Syria — first signed in August 2015 — to establish Russia’s Hmeimim airbase to launch pro-regime operations.

Russia has long provided political and financial support to Syria and began its bombing campaign there in September 2015.

 

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