“While the world is struggling in NY to achieve a truce, Assad is continuing to bomb Aleppo into ruins”, Steinmeier said, referring to several days of failed talks on restoring the ceasefire, attended by the top diplomats of the United States and Russian Federation. One rescue worker described the scene as “annihilation”.
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Rebels vowed to fight to keep President Bashar Assad’s forces out of their districts and shelled government neighborhoods, wounding several people, according to state media. Russian Federation has not confirmed its involvement.
In an address Friday to the General Assembly, Lavrov made it clear that Russian Federation will not accede to Kerry’s demand, insisting instead on the responsibility of the USA and it allies to separate “so-called moderate opposition from terrorists”. The two world powers accuse each other of failing to rein in their respective allies on the ground.
The United States and Russian Federation failed in talks to reestablish a cease-fire in Syria as warplanes bombarded rebel-held areas of Aleppo, killing dozens of people.
It say the centres set up to help victims of bombardments were being targeted, and three out of four had been put out of action.
A Syrian military official said Friday that airstrikes and shelling in Aleppo would continue for an extended period and the operation would expand into a ground invasion of rebel-held districts.
It was unclear whether the new offensive would involve ground troops. But army officials said there would be exit points for anyone, including rebels, who wanted to flee.
Dozens of other civilians were killed in air strikes on other parts of Aleppo Province, including at least 15 in the village of Bushqatin, three in Kfar Hamra, and 11 in Al-Bab, a stronghold of the Islamic State group, Abu Jafaar and SOHR reported.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday used a speech before the United Nations General Assembly to reiterate his proposal for a temporary stop to all military flights over Syria to pave the way for the resumption of a failed ceasefire.
The intensity of the bombardment, which also included artillery barrages and barrel bombings by helicopters, brought new misery to the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped under siege by the army.
A tense meeting Thursday of the Syria Support Group, made up of senior European and Middle Eastern envoys, ended inconclusively, with a clearly frustrated Secretary of State John F. Kerry telling reporters afterward: “We can’t be the only ones trying to hold this door open”.
“We can not continue on the same path any longer”, Mr Kerry said, saying “credibility” had to be restored to the process.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused US-backed rebels of ignoring the truce, and said a new one would amount to a “unilateral pause”.
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But the atmosphere between the two great powers has grown frosty following a USA airstrike last weekend that killed scores of Syrian government troops – attributed by Washington to a mistake – and Monday’s attack on a Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy, which left at least 20 dead. All bombs are to kill, but it’s about how to use it.
