The U.S. says it believes Russian jets were behind the strikes. On Friday, Syrian warplanes dropped leaflets over eastern Aleppo, renewing calls on civilians to stay away from the rebel positions and advising the rebels to surrender.
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The escalation comes as diplomats in NY have failed to salvage a USA and Russian-brokered cease-fire that lasted almost a week.
The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition, one of Syria’s main opposition groups, condemned the attacks on Aleppo, calling it “a insane crime led by the Assad regime and Russian occupation”.
People inspect a damaged site after airstrikes on the rebel held Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo September 24, 2016.
The previous ceasefire was reached after a deal was reached between the USA and Russian Federation.
The UK’s foreign minister, Boris Johnson, says Russian Federation should be investigated for war crimes in Syria.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “appalled by the chilling military escalation” in Aleppo, his spokesperson said.
“The secretary-general considers this a dark day for the global commitment to protect civilians”.
He focused in particular on reports of the use of so-called “bunker-busting bombs” that are created to target underground structures.
Washington and its European allies said before the meeting that the burden was on Moscow – a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime – to save a truce that fell apart in the past week. “Yet in Syria and in Aleppo, Russia is abusing this historic privilege”.
The US military did not dispute the strike, but characterized it as “unintentional” and relayed its “regret” to Syria through Russian Federation, saying the intended target had been ISIS.
The crisis is still taking center stage at the UN General Assembly in NY.
The United Nations said nearly 2 million people have been left without running water by an air strike and rebels’ decision to switch off the Suleiman al-Halabi pumping station in revenge.
Seven people were killed in a strike as they queued to buy yoghurt at a market in the Bustan al-Qasr district on the front line dividing the government-held west from the rebel-held east of the city. In retaliation, the group said a second pumping station was switched off.
“Aleppo is slowly dying, and the world is watching, and the water is being cut off and bombed – it’s just the latest act of inhumanity”, said UNICEF Deputy Director Justin Forsyth.
“People in the opposition-held part of the city of Aleppo speak of an unprecedented bombardment, collapsed buildings [and] women and children among dozens killed”. Residents said that the ordnance appeared to be more powerful than the bombs and missiles used in the past, causing “earthquake-like tremors”.
The capture of the Handarat camp a few kilometres north of Aleppo marked the first major ground advance of the offensive, which the government announced on Thursday.
The attack drew on ordnance more destructive than anything previously in the area, destroying entire buildings and leaving huge craters in the ground.
Another amateur video showed an older man clutching the lifeless body of his son, shouting, weeping and calling out his name.
More than 250,000 civilians are trapped in the rebel-held areas in the east of Aleppo. VOA could not independently verify the claim.
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Syrian rebels earlier declared the push for peace “futile” after Syrian government and Russian warplanes bombarded Aleppo in the worst surge of violence in the city for years.
