Syrian opposition: Airstrike kills 10 civilians

A top Russian diplomat has criticized the Turkish president’s comments about Syrian President Bashar Assad as contradicting all global agreements on Syria.

There are also reports that 10 civilians died in recent airstrikes.

“A withdrawal by the factions is rejected”, he said from Turkey.

Ferocious fighting continued Tuesday as government forces closed in and sought to break down rebel defenses in the deeply divided city, once Syria’s thriving commercial center. Many received for the first time water, food, medical care from Russian humanitarian centres. They include more than 100,000 children, the United Nations says.

Britain’s ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft echoed France’s calls for the emergency meeting, saying the council would discuss plans for the UN to deliver aid and to evacuate the sick and wounded, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.

Zakharova said the video confirms Moscow’s “worst fears” that the White Helmets film forged videos and “could easily imitate a tragedy”.

“The only reason it is not is because the Syrian regime and their influencers are preventing it”.

The situation for the 250,000 people trapped in rebel-held areas continues to worsen, with food stocks practically finished and no functioning hospitals left.

Capturing rebel-held eastern Aleppo would be the biggest victory to date for Assad – in the conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people since it arose out of protests against his rule almost six years ago.

Government officials say they want to liberate the area, calling the opposition fighters terrorists and accusing them of holding civilians hostage.

Artillery by government forces and air strikes killed more than 300 people in rebel-held east Aleppo in the past two weeks, the observatory said. “Help the civilians! Protect the civilians!” The official spoke to The Associated Press by telephone on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

“Clearly, I cannot deny – this is a military acceleration, and I can’t tell you how long eastern Aleppo will last”.

At PMQs, Mrs May said the UK Government was “pressing hard” and “doing everything that we can” to end the suffering of the Syrian people. He said numerous fleeing civilians fear revenge attacks, amid reports of arrests from people living in government-held areas. The government has seized much of the northern half of the enclave in a swift advance that began Saturday. The UN says up to 16,000 have been displaced by the government advances.

Speaking via video-link from London, Stephen O’Brien told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that was nowhere more apparent than in the besieged city of eastern Aleppo with almost a quarter of million people trapped inside. Civilians fled as rebel defenses in the city rapidly collapsed, in what could herald a key victory for President Bashar Assad.