Intensified fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels north of Aleppo has completely cut off access for humanitarian aid deliveries into the rebel-held part of the contested city, a United Nations spokeswoman said Tuesday.
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“We re not leaving home, but even staying at home has become risky”, 25-year-old Abdel Wahhab Qabbani told AFP.
The Castello Road wraps around Aleppo’s eastern and northern edges and leads into rebel-controlled territory north of the battered city.
The dead and injured had come from towns around the province to enjoy the Muslim Eid holiday weekend, witnesses and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rami Abdurrahman, director of the group, said the casualties were most likely families of a rebel group known as the Eastern Lions, which fights the Islamic State group and is allied with the US -backed New Syrian Army group.
The Syrian army announced a 72-hour ceasefire extension on Saturday, the government-run SANA news agency reported.
Darkush is held by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and allied rebel groups, which control the northwestern province of Idlib.
Speaking to ARA News, Aleppo Conquest coalition’s spokesman Mussalam Salloum said the attack comes amid attempts by their fighters to reopen their only supply route into Aleppo city, known as Castello Road.
The city, Syria’s largest before the war, has been a main battleground in the country’s five-year civil war, and has seen an escalation of fighting after peace talks and a fragile ceasefire broke down earlier this year.
“There is now fierce fighting underway, but the opposition has not advanced because of the heavy aerial bombardment the regime is carrying out on the areas where fighting is underway”, he added.
Nusra’s control over its half of the city is in growing doubt, as the Syrian military advances on the last road leading into that area, effectively cutting off their supply lines.
The severing of the Castello Road has already created shortages of food and fuel in the east of Aleppo, with local market stalls sparsely stocked.
Russian Federation launched air strikes in support of the Damascus regime in September, one year after the worldwide coalition bombing the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq extended its raids to Syria.
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Fighting and aerial bombardment has not subsided in most areas, despite it being the second day of the truce announced by the Syrian regime. But this week’s advance brings government forces the closest so far to the road, making it even easier to hit.
