The recent flare-up in fighting began in late June as government forces closed in on the Castello Road, the last route into rebel-held parts of the city.
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The situation on the southwestern approaches to the Syrian city of Aleppo remains hard with heavily armed militants amassing there in the past week, he said.
“The targeting of hospitals and clinics continues unabated, seriously jeopardising the health and welfare of all citizens of Aleppo”, said Yacoub el-Hillo, UN Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator for Syria, and Kevin Kennedy, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the United States would welcome any pause in fighting in Syria to facilitate delivery of vital humanitarian aid, but a truce must be observed by all parties.
Rudskoi told a briefing in Moscow that humanitarian convoys will be formed near Handarat and will move on the strategic Castello road.
“When we are offered three hours, you have to ask what can be achieved in that three hours”, said O’Brien.
A barrage of rocket fire from Syrian rebels killed at least 14 people and left dozens wounded Wednesday in government-held neighborhoods of divided Aleppo city, state media said.
The United Nations has called for urgent aid access to Aleppo and 48-hour weekly pauses for the aid deliveries, warning that civilians are at grave risk from water shortages and disease as fighting has intensified.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned Tuesday that 2 million people living in Aleppo have been cut off from water supplies following attacks on electricity facilities used to pump water to the eastern and western parts of the war-torn city.
As part of a push back against the rebels, Russian Federation military has been aiding Syrian government forces with airstrikes against the rebels. “And clearly, from our point of view, we’re there to meet the need, all the need, and we need to have sufficient capacity to do that”. That’s well outside of Russia’s power to grant, however, and the fighting on the ground is likely to escalate, not slow, in the weeks to come.
“We will multiply the numbers of our fighters to be ready for the upcoming battle”, the group said in a statement.
Rudskoy estimated terrorists’ losses in less than a week at over 1,000 fighters, seven tanks, eight armored personnel carriers, 29 pieces of artillery and 85 vehicles with mounted weapons.
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Rudskoi said the situation in the southwest of Aleppo remains hard, with about 7,000 Jabhat Fatah al-Sham militants massing there for the past week and still being joined by new combatants.
