Iranian General Killed Near Aleppo Laid to Rest in Mass Funeral

Aid trucks and ambulances entered Syria from Turkey Sunday to help tens of thousands of people who have fled an escalating government assault on Aleppo, as airstrikes targeted villages on the road linking the city to the Turkish border.

Tens of thousands of Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled toward the Turkish border since Friday from the northern Syrian city of Aleppo to escape a regime offensive backed by Russian air strikes.

While areas to the northwest of Aleppo are held by Syrian opposition forces and Kurdish teams, the territory to the northeast is held by the militant group Islamic State.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers and their Turkish counterpart in Amsterdam, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged Turkey to open its borders to Syrians in need of protection.

But the border crossing at Bab al-Salam – a main crossing point for refugees and humanitarian aid – remained shut Saturday for a second day, The AP reported.

A senior government official says Turkey is caring for some 30-35,000 displaced Syrians on the Syrian side of the border and has no immediate plans to let them in.

A major Syrian government offensive is underway near the northern city of Aleppo. But, beyond the fact that many a civil war was settled by force, and beyond the fact that President Obama even under the best favorable conditions for the use of (limited) military force against Syria in the summer of 2013, before he infamously balked, today we find Russia, Iran and the Assad regime bent of fighting, even when they claim to be negotiating.

The fighting has killed more than 250,000 people and forced millions to flee the country.

Iran, a longtime ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, acknowledges that Iranian officers are providing an advisory role in Syria, but denies sending combat troops.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a donors’ conference in London Thursday that some 10,000 Syrians were at the border, and as many as 70,000 others were on the way.

Turkey has given refuge to civilians fleeing Syria throughout the conflict, but is coming under growing pressure from the United States to secure the border more tightly, and, from Europe, to stem the onward flow of migrants.

“Like it or not, our battlefield achievements indicate that we are headed towards the end of the crisis”, he said, before calling on rebel fighters to “come to their senses” and lay down their weapons. “All we want is to get inside Turkey”.

Retaking Aleppo, a key commercial center in Syria, would be a critical victory for the regime and the latest in a series of setbacks for opposition forces.

International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said 700 food parcels and 700 hygiene kits were to be distributed to 700 families, or roughly 3,500 people.

European Union officials on Saturday reminded Turkey of its global obligations to keep its frontiers open to refugees camped on its southern border.

“Many people have left Aleppo”.

Syrian foreign minister warns against ground intervention after Saudi Arabia offers to send troops to fight ISIL.

A Turkish fighter jet downed a Russian bomber at the border with Syria on November 24, the first time in more than half a century that a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member had shot down a Russian plane. He said Turkey was prepared to open the gates in the event of an “extraordinary crisis”.

Top diplomats from countries trying to resolve the conflict are set to meet again on February 11 after the collapse of peace talks last week.