Syria Meeting Breaks up Without Plan to Restore Truce

Russia, which intervened previous year to prop up Assad, fears turmoil in his absence and thinks his regime is too fragile for major change, say multiple Russian foreign policy sources.

Unicef said that almost two million people were again without running water after an attack on a pumping station that served the rebel-held east of the city, and the retaliatory shutdown of a station serving the government-controlled west.

The air campaign was followed by an announcement late Thursday by Syria’s military command in Aleppo that it is launching new operations in rebel-held eastern quarters of the city.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would keep working to reestablish the truce, but both sides would have to make the necessary efforts, he added.

However, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad denied that his government was responsible for the repeated bombing on hospitals.

It was brokered by Russian Federation, which supports the Syrian regime, and the USA, which supports opposition fighters.

The ceasefire deal suffered two blows in the last week. – The United States Secretary of State said Thursday that Russia must show that it is serious and admitted that diplomatic efforts on the resumption of the truce are at an impasse, after a long meeting with his Russian counterpart ended without agreement between the two key powers.

A senior US official described the meeting as “contentious” in a conference call with reporters, and said it would take “extraordinary steps by the Russians and the regime” to restore the cease-fire.

The Syrian Military say the strikes precede a ground offensive.

Washington was supposed to pressure rebel forces to respect the truce and distance themselves from jihadists, but the ceasefire fell apart acrimoniously and the Syrian army declared it over on Monday.

A rebel fighter (L) walks next to Syrian Army soldiers prior to evacuating the besieged Waer district in the central Syrian city of Homs, after a local agreement reached between rebels and Syria’s army, Syria September 22, 2016. While Kerry and Lavrov were set to hold more talks Friday, even confidence-building measures seemed beyond their reach.

“It was a long, painful, hard and disappointing meeting”, the U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters after the meeting of the International Syria Support Group, which includes about two dozen major and regional powers.

Mr Kerry said he had met Mr Lavrov earlier in the day and that there was “a little bit of progress” on resolving differences on Syria.

Unicef said that almost two million people were again without running water after an attack on a pumping station that served the rebel-held east of the city, and the retaliatory shutdown of a station serving the government-controlled west.

The United Nations announced that it was resuming aid deliveries to rebel-held areas on Thursday following a 48-hour suspension to review security guarantees after Monday’s attack on the aid convoy near Aleppo.

“We can only say that the world is watching passively at the death of the Syrian population in Aleppo and a new wave of refugees”, Kodmani told Reuters in NY. The western portion of the city is controlled by the governments and the eastern area is rebel controlled.