The UN envoy mediating a resolution to the crisis in Syria on Friday announced that the latest round of peace talks will continue as planned through Wednesday, despite reports that the opposition delegation could suspend its official participation due to the lack of progress on the humanitarian front.
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On Friday, the United Nations special envoy for Syria vowed to take the talks into next week despite a walkout by the main armed opposition with both sides gearing up to escalate the war.
And a barrage of government airstrikes that began around midday Sunday left at least eight civilians dead.
The violence on Saturday appeared set to only harden the opposition’s position.
The Russian air force and allied militia from Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, along with the government managed to cut out most of the rebels direct supply routes into Aleppo back in February.
Rebel and government bombardment in Syria’s Aleppo on Sunday killed at least 14 civilians, emergency workers and activists, on the third day of renewed violence in the battered city.
The ceasefire deal saw Syria’s government and non-jihadist opposition agree to halt attacks while pursuing peace talks.
In the rebel-held town of Douma, 13 people – including three women and two children – were killed in government shelling on the city.
The IS, also known as ISIS, ISIL and Daesh, searched the surrounding area for hours before finding the pilot, identified as Azzam Eid, the human rights group said.
Located in northern Syria, Aleppo has been the focus of a bitter battle between insurgents and government forces since 2012, with opposition groups now controlling the eastern part of the city while government units work to strangle routes to and from the area held by rebels.
The airstrikes in rebel-held areas in Aleppo killed at least 12 people, including children, when they hit a residential area and market in the Tareeq al-Bab district, said the Aleppo Media Center, an antigovernment activist group.
“Most of the areas that were under the ceasefire are now seeing fighting again”, he said.
Al-Qaida in Syria, as well as the Islamic State group and Nusra Front are not included in the ceasefire.
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More than 250,000 people have died in the multifront war that started in 2001.
