Syria’s military command said it was launching a major offensive to seize the city’s rebel-held eastern sector, the state-run news agency reported – an announcement that coincided with the talks in NY by the Syrian Support Group, made up of senior envoys from countries with an interest in the conflict.
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“The military operations command announces the start of operations in eastern districts of the city and calls on residents to stay away from the positions of terrorist groups”, it said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA, using the regime’s term for the opposition. The heaviest airstrikes in months pounded opposition-held districts of Aleppo on Thursday, killing dozens of people, witnesses and activists reported. “We accepted. But the next morning they said, ‘Thank you very much, but we now need seven'”.
Rebels said Russian and Syrian jets had escalated strikes in the past 24 hours on areas that control access to the city, whose rebel-held east has been besieged by Russian and Iranian-backed pro-government forces and completely encircled for all but a few weeks since July. However, diplomats said prospects for the success of either idea were unclear. But in his power base in the Syrian capital, President Bashar Assad.
“The question now is whether there remains any real chance at moving forward, because it’s clear we can not continue on the same path any longer”, Kerry added.
‘If the Russians come back to us with constructive proposals we will listen, ‘ Kerry said after a meeting of the International Syria Support Group on the sidelines of the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders.
Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are scheduled to appear before the GOP-led Senate Armed Services Committee after the latest attempt to secure a cease-fire in Syria all but collapsed. And regarding the claim of the White House yesterday, accusing either the Syrians or the Russians.
Assad made the remarks in an interview with the Associated Press. Several high-profile and deadly attacks suggested the war could be entering a darker phase.
Entire apartment blocks were flattened, overwhelming rescue teams from the White Helmets civil defence organisation said. Russian Federation has gained access to a strategic Mediterranean port, the U.S. is assuring its regional military foothold, Turkey’s focus is on undermining Kurdish aspirations, Iran is striving to strengthen its links to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Saudi Arabia wants to limit Tehran’s regional influence. “I’ve heard that again and again”, a visibly angry Kerry told the council.
“I believe that the United States is not genuine regarding having a cessation of violence in Syria”, he said. “Everybody sits there and says we want a united Syria, secular, respecting the rights of all people, in which the people of Syria can choose their leadership, but we are proving woefully inadequate in our ability to be able to get to the table and have that conversation and make it happen”.
The most recent deadly escalation came after a rare moment of hope: an ad hoc cease-fire negotiated between the USA and Russian Federation that was to allow a week for humanitarian aid to reach war-ravaged Aleppo, as well as to possibly pave a path for joint U.S. The two are set to meet again Thursday in NY.
Russian Federation has denied carrying out the convoy bombing.
US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Russian counterpart Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday for a crisis meeting of governments with a stake in the Syrian civil war. “But it was either the Russians or the (Syrian) regime”.
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“This is not a joke”, Kerry exclaimed, urging all to stop the “word games that duck responsibility or avoid the choices. with respect to war and peace, life and death”.
