A seven-day cease-fire negotiated by the US and Russian Federation fell through on Monday leading to the fresh wave of violence that killed 91 people on Friday and 25 on Saturday as Syrian troops reportedly captured a rebel stronghold north of Aleppo.
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He is NY, where he has been holding talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Meanwhile, the rebels’ Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Nusra Front before breaking ties with al-Qaida, said that the Syrian army and the Palestinian Liwa al-Quds succeeded to take the camp under heavy airstrikes from the Russian air force.
Intense air strikes toppled buildings and killed at least 45 civilians in Aleppo on Saturday while almost two million people were left without water in the war-battered city.
Asked about the Aleppo bombardment, Bassma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said it was a “demonstration of the implications of the failure of yesterday’s meeting”.
Aleppo was Syria’s pre-war commercial and industrial hub but has been devastated by fighting since the rebels seized eastern districts of the city in 2012, making it a frontline battleground.
Hopes that the truce would be extended collapsed as the US-led coalition apologised for killing more than 60 Syrian soldiers in one of its air strikes.
The watchdog group said that 72 people have been killed in rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo city since Friday, as a result of the Syrian-Russian airstrikes.
Ammar al-Selmo, the head of Civil Defense in the opposition-held east, told Reuters on September 24 that “unfortunately it continues”.
In between the raids, White Helmet volunteers frantically searched for those trapped in the rubble of demolished buildings, often with bare hands.
It said several of its own headquarters have been targeted. “Our teams are responding but are not enough to cover this amount of catastrophe”.
The area is near Castello Road, a vital supply route to the city’s besieged rebel-held areas.
A pro-regime Iraqi militia commander in the Aleppo area told Reuters the aim was to capture all of Aleppo within a week.
The US diplomat said he was ready to meet Lavrov again on Friday to see if anything could be done.
The army announced on Thursday the start of a major new military campaign to regain Aleppo, intensifying strikes and use of powerful weapons that rebels said was an “shock and awe” campaign aimed at creating devastation and demoralising them.
It said more dead were feared buried under the rubble.
The U.K. -based Syria Observatory on Human Rights said at least 25 people had been killed.
The Syrian army says it is targeting rebel positions in the city, and denies hitting civilians.
“We can’t be the only ones trying to hold this door open”, Kerry told reporters.
Since a cease-fire brokered by the USA and Russian Federation collapsed last week, the Syrian government has made no secret of its intention to use military force to crush its enemies.
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The push came as diplomats in NY have failed to salvage a cease-fire that lasted almost a week, before giving way to what residents and activists say is a new level of violence.
