Syria army besieges Aleppo as US, Russia talks stumble

Beirut, Sep 4 (AFP) Syrian government troops renewed thesiege of rebel-held parts of Aleppo today, as Washington andMoscow failed to reach a deal on stemming violence in thecountry’s devastating war. Turkish forces and allied Syrian rebels meanwhile expelledthe Islamic State group from the last stretch of theSyrian-Turkish border under its control, a monitor said. Syrian state media said the army and allied forces hadtaken an area south of Aleppo, severing the sole route leftinto the eastern neighbourhoods held by the opposition. "The armed forces in cooperation with their allies tookfull control of the military academy zone south of Aleppo andare clearing the remaining terrorists from the area," statetelevision said, citing a military source. It said the advance "cut all the supply and movementroutes for terrorist groups from southern Aleppo province tothe eastern neighbourhoods and Ramussa." The development leaves about 250,000 people living inrebel-controlled parts of the city cut off from the outsideworld once again, and will raise new fears about ahumanitarian crisis in Aleppo. Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, the city has beenravaged by the war that began with anti-government protests inMarch 2011. It has been roughly divided between government control inthe west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012, but inrecent months regime forces slowly began to encircle the east. In July, they severed the only road into the rebelneighbourhoods, the key Castello Road running from the Turkishborder in the north, creating food and fuel shortages in theeast. The siege prompted international concern, with aidagencies urging 48-hour ceasefires to ensure humanitarianaccess. In early August, rebel forces including Al-Qaeda’s formerSyrian affiliate battled regime forces south of the city toopen a new route to the east, through Ramussa district. But in recent days regime forces backed by Syrian andRussian war planes launched a counter-offensive. A key regime ally, Moscow began an aerial campaign insupport of President Bashar al-Assad’s government lastSeptember, even as it continued to publicly support effortsfor a negotiated solution to the five-year war. Earlier today, hopes were raised that Moscow andWashington might be on the verge of announcing a deal to haltthe bloodshed. US President Barack Obama said both nations were working"around the clock" on a ceasefire, and a State Departmentofficial said a deal was close. But the hopes evaporated later in the day, with a StateDepartment official saying Russia had "walked back on some ofthe areas we thought we were agreed on." Instead, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russiancounterpart Sergei Lavrov are set to meet again tomorrow inHangzhou, China, where G20 leaders are gathered. (AFP)ASK