“We are in intensive discussions with the Russian Federation and the government of Syria to ensure that the civilian population in Aleppo is protected and that standards of worldwide humanitarian law are respected in any operation of humanitarian assistance”, Ramzy said.
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A senior United Nations humanitarian official urged Thursday for an immediate pause to the fighting around Syria’s contested city of Aleppo as government forces pounded opposition areas with airstrikes and rebels kept up their attempts to break a government siege.
“This is a battle of life and death for the regime and for Russian Federation”, its key ally, Abdel Rahman added.
“We sent in one suicide bomber and there are several more also entering”, said the portly silver-haired fighter, standing in a makeshift tunnel.
Eastern districts came under government siege on 17 July, sparking concerns for the estimated 250,000 people still living there.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition monitor, said there were at least 40 air strikes on opposition areas, including on a camp for displaced people in Atareb, south-west of Aleppo.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to fears of reprisal, the sources said that a Russian warplane had struck a refugee camp near Aleppo’s Atarib district with cluster bombs.
Moscow, meanwhile, hit back at U.S. criticism over Syria, accusing Washington of lacking trust in Russian Federation and not behaving as a true partner.
After capturing the strategic Castello Road last month, which had served as a vital supply route for opposition forces in Aleppo, the regime has been making inroads into the besieged city in preparation for an all-out ground assault.
In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry reacted very strongly against Kerry’s demand that Moscow stop the Syrian government offensive in Aleppo. As rebels launched a major offensive to break the siege on Sunday, passions on both sides of the war have only been inflamed as levels of violence rise.
Rebel fighters made advanced slightly in their attempts to break the siege on Aleppo, seizing new territory in the city’s south, the Observatory said.
It reported five more deaths in rebel fire on the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud district of the city.
THE United Nations has said it is “extremely concerned” about the safety of helpless children in the bombed-out Syrian warzone of Aleppo.
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“The Islamic State has entered its final phase in the town of Manbij”, he told AFP, adding however that IS was using a number of civilians there as human shields.
