Russian Federation and the United States failed to reach an agreement on the Syria crisis at a high-level meeting in NY on September 22, as the Syrian government announced a new offensive against rebel-held areas of Aleppo.
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“The Syrians are dropping barrel bombs and the Russian planes are launching strikes”, he told AFP. A rescue worker described what was happening as “annihilation”.
Intense and ongoing airstrikes targeting rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday killed 20 people and destroyed the Syrian city’s main water pumping station, an activist with the opposition-aligned Aleppo Media Center (AMC) told CNN.
On the other side, fresh talks between the United States and Russian Federation on reviving the collapsed ceasefire in Syria have broken up without progress in NY. “That means there only could have been two entities responsible”, US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Tuesday, referring to Russian Federation and Syria.
The International Syria Support Group, including Moscow, Washington and other major powers, met on the sidelines of the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders in NY. It showed buildings on fire in Aleppo following air strikes and shelling in the area.
The official Syrian army statement declaring the offensive said: “The high command announces the start of operations in the east of Aleppo and calls for brothers and citizens to stay away from areas where terrorists are operating”.
“The question now is whether there remains any real chance of moving forward, because it is clear that we can not continue on the same path any longer”, Kerry said.
The army also said it would take “all measures to facilitate the reception” of civilians and that those who arrive at its checkpoints would not be arrested.
Throughout the day, warplanes pounded eastern Aleppo.
However, the powers are now at loggerheads, locked in a bitter war of words over who is responsible for bombing the aid convoy on Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported at least 30 strikes on rebel-held districts during the night and early on Friday.
The International Syria Support Group includes the U.S., Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, France, EU, Arab League and several other European and Arab countries.
After the talks broke down without agreement, United Nations envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura described them as “painful and disappointing”.
“We can’t go out to the world and say we have an agreement when we don’t”, Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused US-backed rebels of ignoring the truce, and said a new one would amount to a “unilateral pause”.
Syrian forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad at a military complex in southwestern Aleppo on September 5.
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He called for the immediate grounding of planes and helicopters that have launched airstrikes, including a Russian one earlier this week that the USA says hit an aid convoy, killing 20 civilians.
