The Syrian military announced late on Thursday it was launching a ground invasion of the eastern districts, though the actual offensive appeared to have been somewhat delayed.
Advertisement
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that reports on the war, said it had documented 47 deaths since Friday, including five children.
He called for the immediate grounding of planes and helicopters that have launched airstrikes, including a Russian one earlier this week that the US says hit an aid convoy, killing 20 civilians.
Secretary of State John Kerry met informally Friday with his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, and told reporters that their talk had yielded “a little bit of progress”.
Jean-Marc Ayrault, the foreign minister of France and a member of the International Syria Support Group, the 17-nation effort led by Russian Federation and the United States, said earlier on Friday that he feared the diplomatic paralysis reflected a growing weariness with the daily brutalities in Syria.
“We’re evaluating some mutual ideas in a constructive way”, Kerry said, toning down the outrage he had expressed with Russia’s position a day earlier and in a Wednesday speech at the U.N. Security Council. The official said Kerry and Lavrov never even reached a tentative understanding between themselves, let alone their governments.
Mr. Lavrov said Friday that Russian Federation agreed with the USA that there is “no military solution” to the five-year conflict, while Mr. Kerry said they had made “a little bit of progress” in brief talks.
The Thursday talks broke up after Russian Federation refused United States demands that it promise to immediately ground the Syrian regime’s air force. Its air force, however, has been able to pummel rebel-held areas with relative impunity.
Hanaa Singer, Unicef’s representative in Syria, said intense attacks had damaged the Bab al-Nairab station, which supplies water to some 250,000 people in the rebel-held east.
In the same vein, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, another Assad ally, said the US proposal would help “terrorists”.
Rebel officials said heavy air strikes hit at least four areas of the opposition-held east, and they believe the strikes are mostly being carried out by Russian warplanes.
Asked about the Aleppo bombardment, Bassma Kodmani, a member of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said it was a “demonstration of the implications of the failure of yesterday’s meeting”.
“There are no more roads to walk on”, said Zaher Azzaher, an Aleppo activist contacted through WhatsApp.
Three centres for a volunteer rescue group known as the White Helmets were also hit.
Another rescue worker described what was happening as “annihilation”.
The bombardment came a day after the Syrian army announced an offensive to recapture east Aleppo, which has been held by the rebels since mid-2012 but has been surrounded by government forces since July.
The siege on Aleppo was briefly broken by the opposition last month, but this victory was short-lived as Russian air power supported the Assad regime and Iran-backed Shia militias to retake areas of the city.
A Syrian woman carries the body of her infant after he was retrieved from under the rubble of a building.
But the ceasefire collapsed into renewed bombardments on Monday, including an attack on an aid convoy that Washington has blamed on Moscow, which denies involvement.
The Syrian army announced on Monday the end of the week-long cease-fire, without extending it, as part of the Syrian government’s dismay with the USA -led attack against Syrian military positions in Deir al-Zour earlier this week, which killed 90 Syrian soldiers, and the violations the rebels were said to have committed during the truce time. United Nations peace envoy Staffan de Mistura has warned of escalating violence.
Advertisement
In Geneva, the United Nations said Friday it was considering a different route to send desperately needed aid to east Aleppo to circumvent the blocked main supply route. “We will not surrender”, the group said in a statement.
