Syria liberates more towns from militants’ control in Aleppo

Pro-government troops backed by Russian warplanes on Friday retook a rebel bastion used as a launch pad for attacks in southern Syria, a monitor said, in their latest territorial gain.

The current offensive is the Syrian government’s boldest move in years to reassert its control of Aleppo, a city divided into spheres of government and opposition control since July 2012. Forces loyal to President Bashar Assad captured several towns and villages, driving a wedge into rebel-held areas and cutting off a supply road to Turkey.

A diplomatic row has broken out at the UN in NY where the French ambassador to the United Nations slammed the Syrian government and its allies for scuppering the Geneva peace talks.

Anti-government protests developed into a civil war that, four years on, has ground to a stalemate, with the Assad government, the Islamic State group, an array of Syrian rebels and Kurdish fighters all holding territory.

“The Russian (air) cover continues night and day, there were more than 250 air strikes on this area in one day”, Hassan Haj Ali, head of Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, a rebel group fighting in northwest Syria, told Reuters.

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation chief Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s air strikes in Syria are undermining efforts to find a non-military solution to the conflict.

Looking ahead, Churkin said he has no doubt that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry “are going to do their utmost” to re-energize the International Syria Support Group at the ministerial meeting in Munich next week and make sure that talks will resume.

The U.N. Security Council is scheduled to meet Friday for consultations with de Mistura over the breakdown in negotiations, which were suspended until February 25.

The Syrian rebels were able to hold positions in the Aleppo area before, but the Russian bombing, along with reinforcements sent to Assad by his allies in Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia, appear to have tilted the balance in the battlefield.

Worldwide humanitarian agencies said they are anxious regime forces may impose a siege on Aleppo.

“Why did the opposition that left Geneva complain about the offensive in Aleppo, which is actually targeted against Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) and other radical extremist groups?” said Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Alexey Borodavkin.

“I don’t think Aleppo is necessarily the most important city in the country, but it is very symbolic”, he said. Turkey is a major supporter of rebels fighting to oust Assad.

The recapture came days after pro-government forces broke a long-running siege on two Shia-dominated towns of Nubbul and Zahra, in a major blow to al-Qaeda-linked militants operating along the Turkish border.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its fighter jets had hit 875 targets in Syria this week, including airstrikes in the northern offensive.

Turkey, which is home to more than 2 million Syrian refugees but has lately tightened its borders with Syria, was not allowing the latest group to enter the country, according to reports from the area.

The boom of distant airstrikes echoed at regular intervals through the mostly deserted border crossing at Kilis on the Turkish side of the border. There are sick people, children, women, and wounded people.

“Humanitarian organisations are responding to the needs of those displaced, but ongoing military conflict is making access to populations in need increasingly hard”, the UN’s Linda Tom told AFP news agency.

Asked whether there were any plans to assist US-backed rebels in Aleppo or provide humanitarian aid drops, Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command said: Our fight right now is against ISIL (Islamic State) in Iraq and Syria.