Meanwhile the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that more than 6,000 people, in large part ISIS militants, have been killed in two years of airstrikes by the US-led worldwide coalition in Syria.
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One told the Agence France-Presse news agency that the bombardment “could go on for hours or days before the ground operation starts”. Residents also spoke of attacks by helicopters using bombs made from oil drums, a tactic usually attributed to the Syrian army.
The military said leaflets were dropped over rebel-held parts of the city calling on opposition gunmen to surrender and benefit from a recent amnesty issued by the state for fighters who agree to put down their arms.
The two stations are under the control of forces opposed to the Syrian government but provide water for both rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held western Aleppo.
In statements that Gentiloni made and that were broadcasted by Italian state TV after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in NY yesterday, he explained that he mentioned “to Lavrov that Italy was among the few countries that thought from the beginning that Russia’s presence in the Syrian crisis would potentially have positive repercussions, especially given the influence that Moscow can wield on Assad”. The neighborhood is getting hit right now by missiles.
“The Syrians are dropping barrel bombs and the Russian planes are launching strikes”, he said.
“Civil defense crews are incapable of extracting them from underneath the rubble due to the intense airstrikes on the city of Aleppo”, he said.
There was no immediate comment from the Russian or Syrian militaries detailing Friday’s air strikes.
The announcement of the Syrian offensive suggested that Syria’s government has no intention of complying with any further cease-fire requests from the global community, despite appeals by Secretary of State John F. Kerry the day before to revive the failed attempt to stop the fighting.
One rescue worker described what happened as “annihilation”.
“Today the bombardment is more violent, with a larger number of planes”. Before the war, the city held almost 3 million people and was Syria’s economic hub.
The truce effectively collapsed after a week when an aid convoy was bombed on Monday, killing some 20 people. “Our centers were the direct target [of the strikes]”.
“If the Russians come back to us with constructive proposals we will listen”, Kerry said following the meeting, which included his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and top diplomats from European and Arab nations.
Images show a 5 year-old-girl being rescued from the rubble in the aftermath of the airstrikes but her parents and siblings were killed.Hopes that last week’s ceasefire might be renewed now seem more distant than ever. -Russian effort against jihadist groups including Daesh and the Nusra Front, long al Qaeda’s Syrian wing.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a statement following a meeting of the International Syria Support Group, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, in NY.
“Absent a major gesture like this we don’t believe there is a point in making more promises or issuing more plans or announcing something that can’t be enforced or reached”, the secretary of state said.
Earlier, the United States and Russian Federation failed to agree on how to revive a short-lived ceasefire in Syria during what the UN Syria mediator called a “long, painful, hard and disappointing” meeting on Thursday.
Western countries pushed in the meeting for warplanes to be grounded everywhere in Syria apart from over areas held by Islamic State, but Russian Federation has refused to accept the demand.
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Speaking at the United Nations on Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for an investigation of the latest violence.
