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Aleppo / AFP
Syrian regime forces advanced against rebels during intense street battles in the heart of Aleppo on Tuesday, after the United States abandoned talks with Russia aimed at reviving a ceasefire deal.
The UN rights chief appealed for action to halt the “ghastly avalanche of violence” unfolding in Syria’s second city, which is reeling from some of the most brutal fighting in the five-year conflict.
The Syrian army announced a major Russian-backed military push nearly two weeks ago to capture the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo, once the country’s commercial hub.
On Tuesday, loyalist fighters seized several high-rise buildings from rebel groups in the city centre, pushing north towards other opposition districts.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitor, said the regime forces were “gradually advancing” after street battles on the front line dividing the rebel-held east from the government-controlled west.
“They are focusing on the tall buildings, which were once government administration buildings, because they can monitor entire streets and neighbourhoods from there,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that rebel shelling on the government-held west, including on the Aleppo University campus, left six people dead on Tuesday.
‘Patience run out’
Washington announced that it would suspend joint efforts to reinstate a nationwide truce, accusing Moscow of abetting strongman Bashar Al Assad’s assault on Aleppo.
“Everybody’s patience with Russia has run out,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
A US official said US Secretary of State John Kerry is “laser-focused” on finding a diplomatic solution, but his near-daily communication with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the crisis is over.
UN call for action
UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged the Security Council to introduce a limit on its members’ veto power, which would make it possible to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Previous bids to make such a referral have been vetoed by Russia.
“Faced with such a ghastly avalanche of violence and destruction, extraordinary steps must be taken,” Zeid said in a statement, condemning the killing of 100 children in 10 days in east Aleppo.
“The UN Security Council should, without any further delay, adopt criteria to restrain members from using the veto when there are serious concerns that war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide may have been committed,” he said.
On Monday, the largest hospital in the rebel-held side of Aleppo was completely destroyed in an aerial attack, according to the Syrian American Medical Society, which supports the facility.
Only five hospitals remain operational for the estimated 250,000 people living under crippling government siege in east Aleppo.
USA has not given up ‘pursuit of peace’ in syria: Kerry
The United States has not given up the “pursuit of peace” in Syria, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday after the White House abandoned talks with Russia on reviving a ceasefire deal.
“Yesterday, as most of you saw, the United States announced our decision to suspend our bilateral discussions with Russia on the reinstitution of the cessation of hostilities agreement -– a decision that, believe me, we did not come to lightly,” Kerry said in a speech in Brussels.
“I want to be very, very clear to everybody, we are not giving up on the Syrian people, we are not abandoning the pursuit of peace, we are not going to leave the multilateral field, we are going to continue to try to find a way forward in order to end this war,” he added.
“People who are serious about making peace behave differently from the way Russia has chosen to behave,” he said.