BEIRUT
(Reuters) - Syrian rebels and pro-government forces battled each other
on major frontlines near Aleppo and Hama, and air strikes reportedly
killed a dozen people including four medical workers, as a ceasefire
appeared to have completely unravelled.
The
renewed battles demonstrated the thin prospects for reviving a truce
that collapsed into fresh fighting and bombardments on Monday, including
an attack on an aid convoy which U.S. officials believe was carried out
by Russian jets. Moscow denies involvement.
The U.N. Security Council was due to hold a high-level meeting on Syria later on Wednesday.
Despite
accusing Moscow of being behind the bombing of the aid convoy, the
United States says the ceasefire agreement it sponsored jointly with
Russia is "not dead".
But
the deal, probably the final hope of reaching a settlement on Syria
before the administration of President Barack Obama leaves office, is
following the path of all previous peace efforts in Syria: still being
touted by diplomats long after the warring parties appeared to have
abandoned it.
Overnight
fighting was focused in areas that control access to Aleppo city, where
the rebel-held east has been encircled by government forces, aided by
Russian air power and Iran-backed militias, for all but a few weeks
since July.
Syrian
state media and a TV station controlled by its Lebanese ally Hezbollah
said the army had recaptured a fertiliser factory in the Ramousah area
to the southwest of the city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a
monitoring body, confirmed the advance and said government forces had
pressed forward near an apartment complex nearby.
A
rebel fighter in the Aleppo area said warplanes had been bombing all
night in preparation for an attack. But "the regime's attempts to
advance failed," said the rebel, speaking to Reuters from the Aleppo
area via the internet.
A
Syrian military source said insurgent groups were mobilising to the
south and west of Aleppo, and in the northern Hama area. "We will
certainly target all these gatherings and mobilisations they are
conducting."
The
army reported carrying out air strikes on seven areas near Aleppo. The
Observatory said an air strike killed four medical workers and at least
nine rebel fighters in the insurgent-held town of Khan Touman south of
Aleppo, saying the rebels were part of the Islamist alliance Jaish
al-Fatah.
The
medical staff killed were working for the Union of Medical Care and
Relief Organizations (UOSSM), it said. UOSSM confirmed in a statement
that at least four of its staff had been killed.
Syrian government forces also launched a major advance in Hama province in the West of the country.
"It
is a very intense attack, for which Russian jets paved the way, but it
was repelled by the brothers, praise God," Abu al-Baraa al-Hamawi, a
rebel commander fighting as part of the Islamist Jaish al-Fatah
alliance, told Reuters.
He
said rebels had destroyed four tanks and inflicted heavy losses on
government troops. Syrian state TV said government forces had killed a
number of insurgents and destroyed their vehicles.
Rebel
sources also reported an attempt by pro-government forces to advance in
the Handarat area to the north of Aleppo, saying this too had been
repelled. Pro-government media made no mention of that attack.
The
Observatory reported that a Syrian jet had crashed near Damascus,
saying the cause of the crash and fate of the pilot were unknown.
Islamic State said it had been shot down.
"BAR OF DEPRAVITY"
The
truce brokered by the United States and Russia took effect on Sept. 12
as part of a deal meant to facilitate aid access to besieged areas.
Foreign
ministers of 20 countries including the United States and Russia met to
discuss it on Tuesday and gave the agreement their support. U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry said after the meeting: "The ceasefire is
not dead".
In
the pact, the details of which remain secret, Washington and Moscow,
which back opposing sides in the war between President Bashar al-Assad's
government and insurgents, agreed to jointly target jihadists that are
their common enemy.
But
such unprecedented cooperation, at a time when trust between the Cold
War-era foes is at its lowest for decades, was always a risky gamble.
Kerry agreed the deal despite scepticism among other senior U.S.
administration figures, and has acknowledged that it is fragile and
uncertain.
Tensions
between the United States and Russia escalated over a Sept. 17 attack
by the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State that killed dozens of
Syrian soldiers in the eastern Deir al-Zor province. Washington said
that strike was carried out by mistake with the intent of hitting
Islamic State.
Monday's
attack on the aid convoy, which the Syrian Red Crescent says killed the
head of its local office and around 20 other people, brought furious
international condemnation.
The
United Nations suspended aid shipments. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
used his farewell speech to the General Assembly in New York to denounce
the "cowards" behind it.
"Just when you think it cannot get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower," Ban said.
However,
the United Nations, which initially described the attack as an air
strike, rowed back from that characterisation, saying it could not be
certain what had happened.
Two
U.S. officials told Reuters on Tuesday that two Russian Sukhoi SU-24
warplanes were in the skies above the aid convoy at the time it was
struck late on Monday, citing U.S. intelligence that led them to
conclude Russia was to blame.
Moscow
says the convoy was not hit from the air and has implied rebels were to
blame, saying only rescue workers affiliated to the opposition knew
what had happened. Russia's foreign ministry told reporters at the
United Nations the U.S. administration "has no facts" to support its
assertions.
Aleppo,
Syria's biggest city before the war, has been a focal point of the war
this year as Assad and his allies have sought to encircle the
insurgent-held east and cut opposition supply lines to Turkey.
Having
blockaded eastern Aleppo, the government and its allies aim to clear
insurgents from areas to the south and west, to take back territory
including the main Damascus-Aleppo highway. Shi'ite militia from Iraq,
Lebanon and Iran play a big role fighting on the government's side.
But
rebel groups still have a strong presence in the area which abuts the
insurgent stronghold of Idlib province. The powerful group formerly
known as the Nusra Front has played a big role in fighting against the
government.
Long
al Qaeda's Syrian wing, Nusra has changed its name and disavowed al
Qaeda, but is still characterised by both the West and Moscow as a
terrorist group excluded from the ceasefire. Other rebels say Russia and
the Syrian government exploit this to justify broader attacks.
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