AFP, Beirut :
As Syrian regime forces advanced in Aleppo, backed by a deadly Russian air campaign, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) decried the “bloodbath,” saying the battleground city’s eastern rebel-held portion had become “a giant kill box”.
Syria’s army was advancing on two Aleppo fronts, as talks between key players Washington and Moscow-which back opposing sides in the war-appeared close to collapse. Damascus’s bid to recapture all of the divided northern city has prompted the UN to warn of “a humanitarian catastrophe” and Aleppo is the focus of a new French-led UN draft resolution calling for the cessation of hostilities.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC Friday that Washington was protecting the former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, once known as Al-Nusra Front in its effort to overthrow Assad.
“We have more and more reasons to believe that from the very beginning the plan was to spare Nusra and to keep it just in case for Plan B or stage two when it would be time to change the regime,” Lavrov said.
Just over a week after Syria’s army announced an operation to recapture all Aleppo, it was advancing both in northern and central Aleppo Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and state media.
In the north, it recaptured the Handarat former Palestinian refugee camp, as well as the old Kindi hospital, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Rebels had held the hospital since 2013, and capturing it allows government forces to threaten the opposition-held Heluk and Haydariyeh neighbourhoods.
The Observatory said at least 15 people, including two children, were killed in strikes on Heluk and other eastern districts Friday.
In leaked audio published by the New York Times, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed frustration that his diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s civil war had not been backed up by US military force.
“I’ve argued for the use of force… but things evolved into a different process,” he said to a group of Syrian civilians last week in New York.
As Syrian regime forces advanced in Aleppo, backed by a deadly Russian air campaign, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) decried the “bloodbath,” saying the battleground city’s eastern rebel-held portion had become “a giant kill box”.
Syria’s army was advancing on two Aleppo fronts, as talks between key players Washington and Moscow-which back opposing sides in the war-appeared close to collapse. Damascus’s bid to recapture all of the divided northern city has prompted the UN to warn of “a humanitarian catastrophe” and Aleppo is the focus of a new French-led UN draft resolution calling for the cessation of hostilities.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the BBC Friday that Washington was protecting the former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, once known as Al-Nusra Front in its effort to overthrow Assad.
“We have more and more reasons to believe that from the very beginning the plan was to spare Nusra and to keep it just in case for Plan B or stage two when it would be time to change the regime,” Lavrov said.
Just over a week after Syria’s army announced an operation to recapture all Aleppo, it was advancing both in northern and central Aleppo Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and state media.
In the north, it recaptured the Handarat former Palestinian refugee camp, as well as the old Kindi hospital, said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.
Rebels had held the hospital since 2013, and capturing it allows government forces to threaten the opposition-held Heluk and Haydariyeh neighbourhoods.
The Observatory said at least 15 people, including two children, were killed in strikes on Heluk and other eastern districts Friday.
In leaked audio published by the New York Times, US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed frustration that his diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s civil war had not been backed up by US military force.
“I’ve argued for the use of force… but things evolved into a different process,” he said to a group of Syrian civilians last week in New York.
