Aleppo (Syria) (AFP) – Syria’s army seized key ground Tuesday in its battle for east Aleppo, capturing more districts and penning rebels in to less than 30 percent of territory they held in mid-November.
The advance came as Moscow and Washington traded barbs over stalled efforts to end fighting in the city, where forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have made significant advances since last week.
On the humanitarian front, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was a “disgrace” that the international community had been unable to alleviate the suffering in besieged and war-battered east Aleppo.
On Tuesday, government troops retook five districts including the strategic Shaar neighbourhood and were in control of more than 70 percent of former rebel territory in east Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The monitoring group described Shaar as “the most important neighbourhood in the heart of east Aleppo”, and said rebels were being reduced to fighting a “war of attrition” with regime troops.
The rapid regime gains have left opposition fighters scrambling to defend the shrinking enclave they still control in Aleppo’s southeastern districts.
Despite mounting criticism of the offensive begun on November 15, world powers have struggled to find a way to halt the fighting.
Key Assad ally Russia had announced talks with the United States in Geneva for Tuesday or Wednesday on organising a rebel withdrawal from Aleppo ahead of a ceasefire.
But on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Washington, which has backed rebel groups against Assad, of backtracking.
– ‘Attempt to buy time’ –
“It looks like an attempt to buy time for the rebels to have a breather, take a pause and replenish their reserves,” Lavrov said. Moscow had the impression that “a serious discussion with our American partners isn’t working out”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry denied any change of plans.
“I’m not aware of any specific refusal,” he replied when asked about Moscow’s allegations as he attended a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels.
Washington had also accused Moscow of stalling for time after Russia and China blocked a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for a seven-day ceasefire.
Russia said the resolution should have been postponed until after the Geneva talks, saying an agreement on organising a withdrawal was close.
The deputy US envoy to the United Nations, Michele Sison, accused Moscow of using a “made-up alibi” to block the resolution.
Syria’s foreign ministry said it would not agree to any ceasefire without a guarantee of a rebel withdrawal.
“Syria will not leave its citizens in east Aleppo to be held hostage by terrorists, and will exert every effort to liberate them,” said a foreign ministry statement carried by state news agency SANA.
The rebels have so far rejected any talk of leaving the city, with Yasser al-Youssef of the leading Nureddin al-Zinki faction describing the proposal as “unacceptable”.
Opposition fighters have been forced to evacuate several of their besieged strongholds in Syria during the conflict, most recently a string of areas near Damascus.
But the loss of Aleppo would be the biggest blow yet to opposition forces in Syria’s civil war, which erupted in 2011 with popular protests calling for Assad’s ouster.
More than 300,000 people have since died and millions forced from their homes.
– ‘Aleppo a disgrace’ –
Aleppo, once Syria’s commercial and cultural hub, has been a key battleground of the war and suffered some of its worst violence.
Merkel on Tuesday lashed out at the international community’s inability to stop the bloodshed.
“Aleppo is a disgrace,” she said in a speech to her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, slamming Russian and Iranian support for the bombardment.
“It is a disgrace that we have been unable to establish humanitarian corridors, but we must continue to fight for it,” the German chancellor said.
The offensive has killed more than 341 people in east Aleppo, including 44 children, the Observatory says.
Rebel fire into the government-held west of the city has killed 81 people, including 31 children, in the same period, it says.
Tens of thousands of east Aleppo residents have also fled to different parts of the city, including to government-held areas and other rebel neighbourhoods.
On another front, in northwest Syria, a suspected Russian air strike on Idlib city and province targeting rebel groups on Tuesday killed at least 25 civilians, the Observatory said.
It said 10 people, among them five civilians, were killed in retaliatory rebel fire on pro-regime towns in Idlib.
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