Two U.S. officials, though, denied that any coalition aircraft were near Aleppo on Wednesday. “If he is willing to save our children it is really the time now to say “no” to these strikes in Syria”.
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But “the US and others see that as a ploy that only serves to give Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to try to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels”, AP reports.
Carter said he expected the more than two dozen countries contributing to the fight to endorse a USA plan for accelerating the campaign.
“We will approach this meeting in Munich with great hopes that this will be a telling moment”, Secretary of State Kerry said earlier this week.
However, according to the Guardian, the opening of the official representation of Syrian Kurdistan in Moscow may aggravate relations with Ankara.
The peace talks broke down last week in Geneva after Assad’s forces raised the pressure on rebels by encircling Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and a stronghold for the resistance.
The administration has hinted it could work with a Syrian transition government toward that goal, though that may end up meaning cooperating with an administration in which Assad plays some role. Brett McGurk said that Moscow’s airstrikes forced rebel fighters – who had been battling ISIS further east – to go to Aleppo instead, giving ISIS time to continue its onslaught while killing off some of its enemies in the process.
“I’m pleased to say that as a result today in Munich, we believe we have made progress on both the humanitarian front and the cessation of hostilities front, and these two fronts, this progress, has the potential – fully implemented, fully followed through on – to be able to change the daily lives of the Syrian people”.
In Washington, a state department envoy told Congress the United States needs to consider options in case the diplomatic push does not succeed.
He predicted that recent U.S.-led efforts to ramp up the war would produce “tangible gains” in Iraq and Syria by March.
The Russian ambassador here at the United Nations has been talking in general terms about a ceasefire in Syria being part of the negotiations.
But a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad says Syria won’t stop its Aleppo offensive until it secures the border with Turkey.
Syria’s five-year civil war entered a new phase last year when Russian Federation joined the conflict on the side of Assad, whose control had progressively slipped to rebels and terrorist groups. He said the Netherlands and Germany had offered to help the refugees on the Turkish side of the border.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned that fighting in Azaz, near the Turkish border, has left health systems “close to collapse”.
The governor of the border province of Kilis, Suleyman Tapsiz, said Turkey had allowed in 12 Syrians who were seriously injured in the Russian and Syrian bombings near the town of Tel Rifaat in northern Syria.
A SARQ official said on Wednesday that the convoy, which included vehicles from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was evacuating sick people from Madaya when it came under fire by unknown gunmen.
“The temperatures are extremely low and, without an adequate supply of food, water and shelter, displaced people are trying to survive in very precarious conditions”, the head of the ICRC in Syria, Marianne Gasser, said in a statement from Aleppo.
European Union Vice President Sylvie Guillaume has visited the border where tens of thousands of people fleeing Aleppo are receiving aid.
Turkey is already hosting 2.7 million Syrian refugees and has refused to let a new wave into the country, leaving many sleeping in tents or the open.
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“For us it’s important to stop the Russian aggression on the Syrian people”, he said.
