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by Karam al-Masri with Maya Gebeily in Beirut ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) — Russia has announced an eight-hour “humanitarian” ceasefire in Aleppo later this week, as the EU warned that the Syrian regime’s Moscow-backed assault on the city could amount to a war crime. The United Nations and European Union welcomed the announcement, but said Thursday’s planned pause in fighting needed to be longer to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, dozens of civilians including […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – by Sara HUSSEIN Syrian government forces advanced against rebels inside Aleppo on Thursday, making their biggest gains in the ravaged city in years just hours after announcing they would ease their air bombardment. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said loyalist fighters now controlled around half of the Bustan al-Basha district near the centre of the divided metropolis. “It’s the most important advance for the regime in Aleppo since 2013,” said […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – by Carole LANDRY The UN Security Council on Monday was considering a draft UN resolution imposing a ceasefire in Aleppo and putting an end to all military flights over Syria’s war-battered city. The French-drafted text obtained by AFP on Monday was circulated to the Security Council at the weekend and a vote could take place this week, diplomats said. The measure was the latest bid to pile pressure on Russia […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – Numerous doctors and nurses and medical facilities have been hit or targeted by missiles or air strikes since the start of the conflict in Syria in March 2011. The latest case came when an air strike and artillery fire hit the two largest hospitals in rebel-held parts of Syria’s Aleppo overnight, in what rights groups said was a deliberate strategy of targeting civilian infrastructure. “Let us be clear. Those using ever […]
ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) – by Karam al-Masri with Maya Gebeily in Beirut The United States threatened Wednesday to suspend its engagement with Russia over the conflict in Syria following escalating attacks on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city, including strikes on two hospitals. UN chief Ban Ki-moon denounced the attacks — which saw the two largest hospitals in Aleppo’s opposition-controlled east hit with air strikes and artillery fire — as “war crimes”. President Bashar al-Assad’s forces […]
ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) – by Karam al-Masri with Maya Gebeily in Beirut Huge blazes erupted in Syria’s Aleppo as the city was rocked by fighting and air strikes Thursday, ahead of last-ditch efforts by world powers to salvage a failed ceasefire. Key players in the Syrian peace process were to meet in New York later Thursday, with the clock ticking down as the UN warned undelivered aid for desperate civilians in Aleppo would expire in […]
by Karam al-Masri ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) — A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by an air strike, leaving 12 dead hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long ceasefire, monitors and the UN said. At least 18 trucks were destroyed as the convoy travelled to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra in Aleppo province, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying 12 Red Crescent volunteers and […]
ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) – by Karam al-Masri Shells and bombs rained down on rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Monday less than two hours after Syria’s army declared an end to a week-long ceasefire agreed between Russia and the US. Damascus and its ally Moscow blamed rebels for the failure of the truce, but Washington said the terms had not been met for a key aspect of the deal — US-Russia cooperation against jihadists. The US, Russia […]
by Rouba El Husseini BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Syria’s ceasefire was on the brink of collapsing Sunday, after a US-led coalition strike killed dozens of regime soldiers and Aleppo city was hit by its first air raids in nearly a week. The barrage of strikes on rebel-held districts of Aleppo risks reigniting battlefronts in the city and could be the most serious threat to the ceasefire so far. A halt to fighting around Aleppo […]
by Karam al-Masri and Maher al-Mounes ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) — A US- and Russia-brokered ceasefire dubbed by Washington as maybe the “last chance to save Syria” took effect at sundown on Monday, amid scepticism over how long it would hold. An initial 48-hour truce came into force at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) across Syria except in areas held by jihadists such as the Islamic State group. AFP correspondents in Syria’s devastated second city […]
by Rana Moussaoui with Dave Clark in Geneva BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — A barrage of airstrikes on rebel-held areas in Syria have killed scores of people, just hours after the government in Damascus approved a US-Russian plan to halt fighting in the country’s suppurating civil war. It was not immediately clear who carried out the raids, which hit the key northern cities of Idlib and Aleppo. But they came as a new ceasefire, agreed […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) – by Rouba El Husseini The commander of Syria’s largest rebel coalition has been killed in an air strike near Aleppo, in what analysts say is the biggest blow to the alliance since its formation. The strike on a meeting of leaders of the Army of Conquest came after a major defeat for the rebels, which saw them once again besieged inside Aleppo after a pro-government advance this week. Former Al-Qaeda affiliate […]
