Syrian troops push ahead in offensive, take another village

As part of the offensive, which began earlier this week, pro-government troops have recaptured several villages near the Turkish border, sending thousands of area residents fleeing toward Turkey.

Amnesty International has documented widespread unlawful attacks on civilian areas and medical facilities by Syrian government forces throughout the conflict and increasingly by Russian state forces, who joined in support of the Syrian government in September a year ago.

Several countries have accused the Syrian government of sabotaging peace talks that collapsed this week with its military offensive.

Experts fear the suspected the aim is to starve the population into submission.

Yesterday, Syrian government troops and their allies broke through rebel defences to reach two Shia villages in northern Aleppo province, choking opposition supply lines from Turkey to Aleppo city.

But taking full control of Aleppo – a city of two million people before the war started – would be a much bigger prize for the Syrian regime and its Russian backers.

At least 20,000 of them are camped out at the Bab al-Salameh border crossing on the other side of the fence from Kilis, according to the United Nations.

“It feels like a siege of Aleppo is about to begin”, said a spokesman for aid group Mercy Corps, David Evans, who said the main humanitarian route was cut off.

Backed by hundreds of Russian airstrikes, the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad and allied militias have nearly completely encircled Aleppo in what humanitarian groups warn may lead to a major humanitarian crisis.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said some 120 fighters on all sides had been killed around Ratyan. Russia’s 200 sorties suggests they don’t give a damn about civilian casualties and are hitting the rebels no matter where they are.

“What frustrates the rebels the most is that the countries that claim to be their friends are happy with empty words and sitting on the fence”, said activist Maamoun al-Khatib, head of the Shabha press agency in Aleppo.

Rebel commanders have confirmed to VOA that the regime has severed the main rebel supply route to insurgent-held districts in Aleppo, Syria’s one-time commercial capital and most populous city. “And that is something that we continue to be quite concerned about”, Earnest said.

Iranian news agencies said on Friday that a brigadier general and six members of its Basiji forces had been killed in the fighting.

The West has criticized Russia’s military support for Assad.

Russian violations of Turkish airspace were “causing increased tensions and … create risks”.

The Turkish Islamic charity IHH said about 50,000 people arrived since Thursday at the Bab al-Salam border crossing between Syria and Turkey. However, critics have said Russian warplanes have struck a wide range of opposition targets.

Iran’s supreme leader says Iranian forces must fight Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq to prevent the militant organization spreading to Iran.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Friday that Russian airstrikes against opposition forces were “undermining efforts to find a political solution to the conflict”.