Damascus extends cease-fire by 24 hours
“We are calling on all sides interested in establishing peace in Syria to support the Russian-American initiative and not to allow a regime of silence to be disrupted”, Kuralenko said, speaking from Russia’s Hmeimim air base in Syria.
Almost 10 days of bombardments by both the government side and insurgents in the city of Aleppo has killed more than 250 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, confounding hopes of an end to five years of war.
The Russian consulate in a government-held area in Aleppo came under mortar fire, Russian news agency Tass reported, citing the Foreign Ministry in Moscow.
The death toll at the bombarded hospital and the surrounding area had climbed to more than 50, including patients and at least five medical staff, an updated MSF statement said.
That ceasefire disintegrated in recent weeks, largely over the fighting in and around Aleppo. “In short, the violence is soaring back to the levels we saw prior to the cessation of hostilities”.
The Syrian army and rebels unleashed deadly new attacks on each other Friday in Aleppo, with insurgents shelling a mosque during weekly prayers and government airstrikes hitting opposition neighborhoods in escalating bloodshed the United Nations decried as a “monstrous disregard for civilian lives by all parties”.
On Sunday, SANA said six people were killed and 40 others wounded by the rebels’ shelling on government-controlled areas in west of Aleppo.
Still, Aleppo was safer Monday and Sunday than it had been in over a week.
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper received word from a well-informed source attending the Geneva talks, who only spoke, under the condition of anonymity, that Moscow wants any operation conducted by the USA military aircrafts in Syria to first seek approval of Assad’s regime. But it excluded Aleppo.
Assad’s military declared a brief truce in the capital of Damascus and its outskirts and the coastal province of Latakia – but not in Aleppo.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is due late Sunday in Geneva as part of a U.S. bid to reaffirm a U.S.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed ways to resolve the Syrian conflict through the “preservation and strengthening” of the February 27 cease-fire, the provision of humanitarian assistance to people living in blocked areas and the establishment of a sustainable political process, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Judeh described the situation around Aleppo as “quite alarming” and said a cessation of hostilities was necessary for Syrian peace talks and humanitarian aid deliveries to resume.
A new temporary truce was brokered by the USA and Russian Federation on Friday, although Aleppo was left out of that agreement. In a conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kerry called for Moscow to help contain and reduce the violence.
In fact, there does appear to be a U.S. Plan B, according to the Wall Street Journal, which recently reported that it involved supplying more powerful weapons to the Syrian rebels, possibly including missiles that could shoot down Syrian planes and helicopters. Lebanon is split between supporters and opponents of the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Earlier, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir called the situation in Aleppo with continued airstrikes an “outrage” and a criminal violation of humanitarian law. Measures to strengthen the rebels, and ground the government’s air force, are not only the morally right response to the deliberate bombing of hospitals and food stores.
“We will not accept under any circumstances … regional ceasefires”, they said, adding they would respond as “one bloc” to attacks in any area of the country.