Syrian warplanes again pounded Aleppo’s last rebel-held districts as the US said US and Russian officials were yesterday to meet in a bid to save the city from “complete” destruction.
With the fighting resuming after a brief respite, the UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire and urgent aid deliveries, in a resolution adopted by a strong majority.
US officials were to meet with their Russian counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland, to try to stop Aleppo “being absolutely, completely destroyed,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
Photo: AFP
He was in Paris for a meeting of foreign ministers from the Western and Arab backers of Syria’s weakened opposition, also yesterday.
However, Kerry was not upbeat about the chances of success, as key Syrian regime ally Russia vowed that the assault would not end until rebels leave Aleppo.
“I know people are tired of these meetings, I’m tired of these meetings,” Kerry said. “But what am I supposed to do? Go home and have a nice weekend ... while people are dying? Sit there in Washington and do nothing?”
Syrian government airstrikes had halted briefly from Thursday night, when Moscow announced a pause in the regime offensive to allow the evacuation of civilians, although shelling did not cease.
Syria’s army is three weeks into a battle to retake east Aleppo from rebels, who are now confined to just a few neighborhoods in their former bastion.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled eastern Aleppo in recent weeks, although the UN on Friday said it had received reports that rebels had blocked some from leaving.
It also expressed concern about reports that hundreds of men had gone missing after fleeing to government-held territory.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, reported at least a dozen airstrikes on rebel-held neighborhoods on Friday afternoon.
Syria’s army has captured about 85 percent of eastern Aleppo, with rebels and remaining civilians confined to a shrinking space in increasingly grim conditions.
Eastern Aleppo has been encircled by the regime since mid-July, with international aid provisions exhausted and remaining food supplies dwindling even before the government assault began in the middle of last month.
Repeated talks between Kerry and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov this week have failed to halt the violence, although Lavrov on Friday said that he hoped a truce deal could be reached soon.
Rebels earlier this week called for a ceasefire and the safe passage of civilians to opposition-held territory elsewhere in Aleppo Governorate.
However, Syria’s government and Moscow have ruled out allowing rebels to remain in the city, and Lavrov said the plan being discussed envisions disarmed fighters leaving the city with civilians.
In New York, the UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire in a resolution passed by a vote of 122 to 13 in the 193-nation body, with 36 abstentions. Russia, Iran and China voted against.
Earlier on Friday, the UN said it had received reports that some armed groups were preventing residents from leaving and that government forces had arrested some of those who fled to regime territory.
“We have received very worrying allegations that hundreds of men have gone missing after crossing into government-controlled areas,” UN rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.
Family members had lost contact with the men after they fled opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo about a week or 10 days ago.
The UN had also received reports of civilians in the east being “prevented from leaving” and of reprisals against residents who asked armed groups to leave, Colville said.
Groups including al-Qaeda’s former affiliate had reportedly “abducted and killed an unknown number of civilians who requested the armed groups to leave their neighborhoods.”
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