With the Syrian Army and its allies launching a renewed ground offensive backed by Russian air power against the beleaguered city of Aleppo in northern Syria, and reports of an imminent push against rebel forces in southern Syria, prospects for a revival of the cessation of hostilities plan appear bleak.
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The cease-fire plan, brokered by the United States and Russian Federation, sought to open routes for humanitarian aid into besieged areas such as Aleppo.
“Can you hear it?” Aleppo’s main water station, which provides clean water to both regime and opposition-controlled neighborhoods, was also hit.
“We are trying to see by all means available how we can reach east Aleppo”, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian agency OCHA, told reporters in Geneva.
The apparent collapse of US -backed peacemaking may mark a turning point in the 5-1/2-year-old war, with the government and its Russian and Iranian allies now seemingly determined to crush the rebellion in its biggest urban stronghold.
The Assad regime has redoubled its efforts to crush rebel forces in Aleppo, mounting a major offensive this week against the city.
“I woke up to a powerful quake though I was in a place far away from where the missile landed”, he said in a voice recording sent to Reuters.
A United States official said the USA believes with a very high degree of confidence that a Russian-piloted aircraft carried out the strike.
In its late-night announcement on Thursday, the Syrian military announced “the start of its operations in the eastern districts of Aleppo”.
The unnamed source told state media on Friday that the attack will be a “comprehensive one” involving preparatory air strikes and boots on the ground that could go on “for some time”.
Warplanes launched some of the heaviest airstrikes of the war on rebel areas of Aleppo on Friday, said Reuters.
The offensive coincided with global meetings on Syria in NY, ostensibly meant to revive the truce announced jointly by the United States and Russian Federation on September 9. Like previous efforts though, this one also failed and it might be the last one before President Barack Obama leaves the White House.
The government has urged people to avoid positions held by rebels.
The conflict in Syria has cost more than 300,000 lives and displaced over half the country’s population since it erupted in March 2011. Air raids are worse than before the ceasefire went into effect, the opposition says.
One rescue worker described what happened as “annihilation”.
Seconds later, video showed him being lifted free – one of the many harrowing images posted Friday by pro-opposition activists as the eastern sector of Syria’s largest city was pounded for a second day by intense airstrikes. It was supposed to bring about a nationwide ceasefire, improved humanitarian aid access, and a joint U.S.
However, the truce effectively collapsed after a week when an aid convoy was bombed on Monday, killing some 20 people.
Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed the United States for the deal’s failure in an AP interview earlier this week, citing US inability to control “terrorist” groups and a weekend attack that killed dozens of Syrian soldiers.
“Can well-fed grown men please stop putting political, bureaucratic and procedural roadblocks for courageous humanitarian workers that are willing to go to serve women, children, wounded civilians in besieged and crossfire areas?” said Jan Egeland, the humanitarian adviser to U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, to the media last Thursday.
USA secretary of state John Kerry admitted the “credibility” of the peace negotiations had to be restored.
“The past few weeks do not seem to have done wonders for establishing trust, but I definitely think there’s something to the idea that failed ceasefires can help pave the way for more successful ones”, said Aron Lund, associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
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“We have not succeeded so far, but there was a lot of support around the table for the proposal, a temporary ban for all flights in order to create the conditions for the truce”, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
