The Russian-backed onslaught against rebel positions in Aleppo coincided with the failure of peace talks in Geneva, and helped reinforce opposition suspicions that Russia and its Syrian government allies are more interested in securing a military victory over the rebels than negotiating a settlement.
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Refugees wait for tents as Syrians fleeing the northern embattled city of Aleppo wait on February 6, 2016, in Bab-Al Salam, near the city of Azaz, northern Syria, near the Turkish border crossing. But still there are many civilians there.
The bombardment interrupted U.N.-led peace talks scheduled in Geneva this week.
The immediate result of their assaults, which Russian Federation says target terrorists, may have caused the biggest single mass movement of refugees in the five-year long conflict. Ankara said it suspected the aim was to starve the population into submission. Women sat on the side of the road holding babies and waiting to be allowed into Turkey.
“It is highly probable that a large wave of people will now head our way”, Asselborn said, referring to a major migratory route via Turkey, Greece and the Balkans amid Europe’s wrangle over how to control the EU’s external borders.
Rights group Amnesty International urged the country to let in those fleeing the latest violence.
The opposition says there is no point in negotiating while it is under fire. “The worldwide community must take urgent, concrete steps to address it”.
From Jan. 25-30 south of Kirkuk, elite Iraqi Counter-Terror Service troops joined with Turkomen tribal fighters to take three villages, Ryder said. “There needs to be pressure from the Americans on the Russians”, he said in Geneva, hours before the HNC delegation was due to leave the Swiss city. Those groups are the real ones tying down the Syrian government and making it unable to restore its authority over the country. As one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, Aleppo’s Old City was added in 1986 to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage sites.
Kurtulmus said some 15,000 refugees from Syria were admitted in the past few days, without elaborating. Well over a million live in the areas under government control.
He said both sides had expressed concerns about the talks, with the government wanting to address “procedural issues before talking about (the) humanitarian side”.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. The Assad family hails from Syria’s minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Western countries have lined up in opposition to Assad. Russian Federation launched its own separate air campaign four months ago to aid its ally Assad, transforming the battlefield.
U.S.-made TOW missiles, or guided anti-tank missiles, are the most potent weapon in the rebel arsenal and have been supplied to vetted rebel groups as part of a program of military support overseen by the Central Intelligence Agency. “We are continuing to stay focused on that operation”.
Syria’s largest city and once its commercial center, Aleppo was a crossroads of civilization for millennia.
This was a reminder of the sophisticated air defense S-400 and S-300 missile systems Russia installed at its Syrian air base after the Turkish air force downed a Russian warplane in November.
Russian Federation warned on Thursday that Turkey may be preparing to intervene militarily to stop that from happening. Ankara dismissed this as propaganda meant to hide Russia’s own “crimes”.
The Islamic State (IS) terror group has lost over two-thirds of the border towns under its control on the Syrian-Turkish borderline, media reported on Saturday. He said Moscow hopes others in the 17-nation group will “shoulder responsibility” in restarting the talks.
“This creates risks, heightened tensions and is of course a challenge for North Atlantic Treaty Organisation”, he said.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country should not repeat in Syria the same mistake it made in Iraq when it turned down a USA request to be part of the coalition that toppled Saddam Hussein.
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Heavy fighting continued in the area to the north of the city today.
