Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Monday that Washington and Moscow are closing in on a deal to partner in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, the largest metropolitan area in the war-torn country. Russia’s military said six long-range Tu-22M3 bombers that took off from Russian territory carried out strikes Sunday on DAESH near the eastern Syrian city of Deir el-Zour. A multi-sided civil war has raged in Syria for more than five years.
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“We are now in a very active phase of negotiations with our American colleagues”, the RIA news agency cited Shoigu as saying.
Syria’s rebel-held, northwestern Idlib province came under heavy bombardment late Sunday, activists reported, as rebels and pro-government forces battled for control of the nearby city of Aleppo.
The rebel assault targeted key army positions at a cement factory southwest of Aleppo. An activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said some 200 fighters from various factions are based near Atmeh and bring in weapons through the crossing.
Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as a hostile force, an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group that has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s southeast, and is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union as well as by Ankara.
The situation was also bad in government controlled areas in the west, where between 1.2 million and 1.5 million people live, as well as in the surrounding suburbs and neighboring countryside which have continued to suffer from attacks, Haq said. That could help “bring peace to this long-suffering land and help people return to their homes”.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, added his voice Monday, describing the fighting in Aleppo as “one of the most devastating conflicts in modern times”.
The operation, in which USA special forces played a significant role, marks the most ambitious advance by a group allied to Washington in Syria since the United States launched its military campaign against Islamic State two years ago.
Trudeau said the United States continued to push for a broader cessation of Syria hostilities accord with Russian Federation. Children have been traumatised. “The scale of the suffering is huge”, said Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Shoigu said Russian Federation had delivered aid to Aleppo and is helping to rebuild damaged water pumping stations. The toll includes 126 people killed by opposition shelling of government-held parts of Aleppo city.
United Nations officials and outside aid groups have warned of an unprecedented humanitarian calamity in Aleppo if the siege is not ended, calling for at least 48-hour weekly humanitarian pauses so food and water can be delivered.
Earlier on Monday the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Syrian militants had used a temporary ceasefire around Aleppo to regroup.
His deputy Mikhail Bogdanov said Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should play a more active role in helping to resolve the Syria crisis.
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“(They should) sit down at the table and negotiate”, Bogdanov told RIA news agency, saying he would meet representatives of the Syrian opposition in the Qatari capital, Doha, on August 16.
