ALEPPO, Syria — Air strikes pummeled the shrinking rebel enclave in Aleppo on Saturday as US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian regime’s “indiscriminate bombing” amounted to crimes against humanity.
Western powers meeting in Paris called for the resumption of peace talks and for civilians to be allowed to leave Aleppo, where tens of thousands have already fled a fierce regime offensive.
The regime’s more than three-week-old assault aimed at retaking all of Aleppo has triggered mounting international outrage.
“The indiscriminate bombing by the regime violates rules of law, or in many cases, crimes against humanity, and war crimes,” Kerry said after the talks in Paris, urging Russia to do its “utmost to bring it to a close.”
US and Russian officials meanwhile were to gather in Geneva for what Kerry described as a bid to stop the city from “being absolutely, completely, destroyed.”
Once the beating heart of Syria’s industrial and commercial industries, Aleppo has witnessed some of the most brutal violence of the country’s nearly six-year war.
Air strikes and regime rocket fire battered the last remaining rebel districts on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The strikes were so intense that windows in the west rattled and plumes of smoke could be seen rising from several points across the city’s skyline.
According to the Observatory, nine civilians were killed on Saturday in a barrage of rebel rocket fire on government-controlled neighborhoods.
The fresh attacks brought to 129 people, including 39 children, the number of people killed by rebel fire on regime-held west Aleppo since Nov. 15. Another 413 civilians, among them 45 children, have been killed in east Aleppo in the same period.
With the fighting intensifying after a brief respite, the UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire and urgent aid deliveries, in a resolution adopted by a strong majority.
But both Moscow and Damascus have rejected talk of a ceasefire without a rebel withdrawal from the city — a demand that opposition groups have refused. — AFP
