The seven-year-old Syrian girl whose Twitter account from Aleppo gained international attention has fled her home amid heavy fighting, but she and her family are safe for now, her father said on December 6, 2016.
/ AFP PHOTO / THAER MOHAMMED
ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) – by Karam al-Masri with Maya Gebeily in Beirut
Syrian regime forces were on the verge Tuesday of seizing a major rebel district of Aleppo as Moscow and Washington traded barbs over stalled efforts to end fighting in the battle-worn city.
After retaking control of about two-thirds of east Aleppo in recent days, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were advancing Tuesday in the large residential district of Shaar.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said if the district is retaken rebel forces will be reduced to a “war of attrition” with the army.
“It is the most important neighbourhood in the heart of east Aleppo, and is on the brink of falling,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, adding that regime forces were already in control of about a third of the district.
With the capture of Shaar, the army would hold 70 percent of east Aleppo, four years after rebels first seized it and divided the city.
The regime’s rapid 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, world powers have struggled to find a way to halt the fighting.
Russia, a key Assad ally, 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, adding that Moscow had the impression that “a serious discussion with our American partners isn’t working out.”
Washington for its part 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.
“We will continue bilateral negotiations (with Russia) to relieve the suffering in Aleppo, but we have not reached a breakthrough because Russia wants to keep its military gains.”
Syria’s foreign ministry said that it would not agree to a 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.
German Chancellor Angela 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 conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
She said world powers must “continue to fight” to establish aid corridors for desperate residents.
The most recent offensive has left more than 341 people dead 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, the monitor 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.
Among them is Bana al-Abed, a seven-year-old girl whose Twitter account documenting life in Aleppo has gained international attention.
Concern had grown for the girl and her family after the account went silent for 24 hours but her father told AFP on Tuesday they had fled the fighting and were safe for now.
“The army got really close to our neighbourhood. We fled to another part of east Aleppo and the family is doing well,” he said.