Aleppo is a key battleground and of vital strategic significance to both sides in the 5-year-old Syrian civil war that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions of others.
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A temporary “regime of calm”, or lull in fighting, announced by the Syrian army late on Friday, which Damascus said was created to salvage the wider ceasefire deal, appeared to hold in the capital and areas in its suburbs, as well as parts of northwest coastal province Latakia.
The Russian defence ministry official gave no details but added that “regime of calm” around the Syrian capital had been extended until 21:00 GMT on Monday.
Kerry landed in Geneva on Sunday for talks with Arab ministers and United Nations peace envoy Staffan de Mistura in an urgent push to end the bloodshed.
“The secretary made clear that ending the violence in Aleppo and returning ultimately to a durable, nationwide cessation is a top priority”.
“People have already started fleeing the city”, said Baraa al-Halaby, an activist who watched older men, women and children leave his rebel-held neighborhood Friday. Insurgent shelling of government-held areas killed 96 people, including 21 children.
Reports suggest the situation in Aleppo was quieter on Sunday than in recent days despite some new air strikes by government forces and shelling by rebels.
Judeh described called the situation around Aleppo “quite alarming” and said halting hostilities was crucial for the resumption of Syrian peace talks and humanitarian aid deliveries.
The U.S. State Department said Washington wanted Moscow to pressure Assad to end what it calls indiscriminate aerial attacks in Aleppo, which has always been divided between government- and opposition-held areas of control.
Moscow and Washington brokered the February 27 ceasefire deal, which applied to western Syria but excluded al Qaeda and Islamic State fighters.
The United States said yesterday that it was in discussions with Russian Federation to renew the cessation of hostilities and was seeking a halt to fighting in Latakia and eastern Ghouta as a test case before trying to extend ceasefires throughout the country.
Syrian or Russian warplanes did strike Aleppo’s northern outskirts, the Observatory said.
“The attack on this hospital is unconscionable”, he said, accusing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of deliberately targeting three clinics and a major hospital last week.
Mohammad Muaz Abu Saleh, a senior councillor in the rebel Aleppo governate council, said residents were not abandoning opposition-held areas, despite the intense bombardment.
Almost 10 days of bombardments by both the government side and insurgents in the city of Aleppo has killed more than 250 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, confounding hopes of an end to five years of war.
“We are talking directly to the Russians, even now”, Kerry said, after a week in which Moscow conspicuously refused to rein it its ally, Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad.
The escalating violence in Aleppo has also struck medical centres, with the International Committee of the Red Cross reporting four hit Friday on both sides.
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This photo released by Syria’s official SANA news agency on April 30, 2016, shows rescue workers carrying a civilian injured in a rocket attack by militants in Aleppo.
