“What’s happening now is annihilation in every sense of the word”, he said.
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Streets in the city were empty as almost 250,000 people were still trapped in the rebel-held sector of Aleppo, seeking shelter from jets. Russian Federation has not confirmed its involvement.
Turkey, Saudi and the USA all support opposition fighters in Syria but Al-Assad said the country will bounce back from the war and be more unified if this backing stopped.
The intense bombing and the declaration of a new offensive come as diplomatic efforts failed to salvage a cease-fire that lasted almost a week, before giving way to a new level of violence.
“The Syrians are dropping barrel bombs and the Russian planes are launching strikes”, said its director Rami Abdel Ahman.
Ammar al Selmo, the head of civil defense rescue service in Aleppo – known as the White Helmets – said three of their four centers had been hit and more than 30 people died in the strikes, and that doesn’t include the many who are “still under the rubble”, NBC News reported.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called for a temporary halt to all military flights: “If the ceasefire is to stand any chance, the only path is a temporary, but complete ban of all military aircraft movement in Syria – for at least three days, better would be seven days”, Steinmeier said.
Diplomats have said that much of the focus of an global meeting on Thursday to break the U.S.
“With respect to the air or artillery strikes, they may continue for some time depending on the field situation and the terrorists’ losses”, the source said.
“We can hear the planes right now”, said Mohammad Abu Rajab, a radiologist in Aleppo.
After a contentious two-and-a-half hour meeting with colleagues in New York, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said they would meet again Friday in a bid to find a way forward.
The United States and Russian Federation failed on Thursday at the United Nations to agree on how to revive a short-lived ceasefire. -Russian impasse was to persuade Russia to renew a seven-day ceasefire, but that Lavrov had shown no inclination to accept it. Lavrov said the USA had originally asked for three days on Wednesday, which Moscow had accepted, before on Thursday asking for a seven-day ceasefire.
Rebels vowed to fight to keep President Bashar Assad’s forces out of their districts and shelled government neighborhoods, wounding several people, according to state media.
It was supposed to bring about a nationwide ceasefire, improve humanitarian aid access, and allow a joint US-Russian effort against jihadist groups including Islamic State and the Nusra Front, long Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing.
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Residents also spoke of attacks by helicopters using bombs made from oil drums, a tactic usually attributed to the Syrian army.
