Rescuers pull a baby from rubble, unsure whether the child will survive.
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A source told Xinhua that the political intelligence branch in Aleppo offered invitations to the civilians in eastern Aleppo to come to the government areas.
The week’s breakdown in the diplomacy on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly occurred as violence in Syria accelerated.
For Assad, the city represents an important prize that would expand government control in the north and deprive opposition groups of one of its last main strongholds.
De Mistura has estimated that more than 400,000 people have been killed since the conflict began with anti-government protests in March 2011, though that number is not an official United Nations estimate. “With respect to the air or artillery strikes, they may continue for some time”, he said. They reported 60 airstrikes in east Aleppo, the location of rebel-held neighborhoods in the divided northern city.
The fragile ceasefire that went into effect on September 12 fell apart less than a week later after US-led coalition forces struck a Syrian position, killing scores of soldiers.
The Thursday talks broke up after Russian Federation refused USA demands that it promise to immediately ground the Syrian regime’s air force.
The strike has erupted in a diplomatic row between the United States and Russian Federation, the brokers of the ceasefire.
The week in NY is heading towards disastrous diplomatic failure, he adds.
“It is essential to prevent the disruption of these agreements and to carry out an unbiased and impartial investigation of the incidents”, Lavrov said.
The pressure on rebel-held parts of the city is the most serious in years now that all areas are surrounded by government forces and their allies, including Iraqi fighters and militants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
Activists said the government of Bashar al-Assad also bombed one of two water distribution plants in the opening move of what the military command described as an operation to reclaim the opposition-controlled eastern districts of the city.
“We can’t be the only ones trying to hold this door open”, Kerry told reporters.
Several residents said explosions had struck with far greater force than anything that had hit the city in the past, making bigger craters and bringing entire buildings down.
Damascus announced the launch of the new operation to take the city Thursday, with officials saying that the bombardment of rebel-held areas was in preparation for a ground offensive. “The planes are not leaving the sky: helicopters, barrel bombs, warplanes”.
Kerry blamed Russian Federation, lambasting what he portrayed as a cynical response to an airstrike on a humanitarian aid convoy this week that killed 20 civilians and raised “profound doubt” about Russia’s and Syria’s willingness to abide by the cease-fire. USA officials have told CBS News that only Russian fighter jets were in the air over the convoy during the strike. It’s an interagency humanitarian effort of the United Nations and SARC, carrying aid for 7,000 people, according to a tweet from the SARC.
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“Forty trucks are sitting at the Turkish-Syrian border, the food will be expiring on Monday, the drivers are sleeping at the border, and they have done so now for a week”, said Jan Egekland, Special Adviser to the UN Envoy for Syria.
