Ammar al Selmo, the head of civil defense rescue service in opposition-held Aleppo, said three of its four centers in Aleppo had been hit.
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“The Syrians are dropping barrel bombs and the Russian planes are launching strikes”, he told AFP.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based group of opposition activists, said 14 air strikes had hit Bustan al-Qasr and the neighbouring Kallasa district, starting “massive fires”, as rebels and troops clashed.
Turkey, Saudi and the U.S. 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 Observatory said there were also air raids on the north of Aleppo city, and reported clashes on the frontline, near the old city centre.
Syria’s Russian-backed military pressed ahead with airstrikes and shelling aimed at Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern sector – an offensive whose start was announced by the government on Thursday even as senior diplomats were holding talks in NY aimed at reviving a cease-fire that collapsed earlier this week.
The bombardment came aday 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.
Kerry said he had made “a little progress” in talks on Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who cited no progress and accused the United States of failing to honour the latest ceasefire deal.
“The good news is that Russian Federation and the US agreed to work intensely on a possible restoration of it”, U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura told reporters.
At least 30 neighbourhoods were targeted, Al Jazeera’s Amr al-Halabi reporting from the city said, adding that the relentless bombardment was hampering the ability of rescue workers to help civilians caught up in the fighting.
“I am no less determined today than I was yesterday but I am even more frustrated”, said Kerry. The source said the army aimed to avoid harming civilians and to allow them to “flee from the terrorists”. “This could go on for hours or days before the ground operation starts”.
“The first thing that we have to do is find a way to restore credibility to the process, if that can be done”, he said, of attempts to restore the ceasefire.
While the USA and Russian Federation have previously butted heads over several proposed resolutions critical of the Syrian government, Wednesday’s agenda didn’t even include a suggested course of action.
“The drivers are sleeping at the border and they have done so now for now a week, so please, President Assad, do your bit to enable us to get to eastern Aleppo”.
United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, listens during a Security Council meeting, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, at U.N. headquarters.
The conflict in Syria has cost more than 300,000 lives and displaced over half the country’s population since it erupted in March 2011.
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Monday, the Russian and Syrian governments canceled a week-old ceasefire after alleged violations by both sides.
