Syrian army starts offensive to recapture terrorist-held eastern Aleppo

The Syrian army has announced the start of a new large-scale military operation in Aleppo aimed at flushing foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists from the eastern flanks of the strategic northwestern city.

The Syrian Command of Military Operations in Aleppo announced on Thursday that the offensive has been mounted, urging civilians to avoid areas where terrorists are congregated, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported.

It added that government forces had already prepared corridors for those willing to leave eastern Aleppo, and necessary facilities to receive and accommodate civilians had been prepared.

Syria talks

Meanwhile, a high-level international meeting on the Syrian crisis broke up in New York on Thursday after parties could not reach an agreement to resuscitate a collapsed ceasefire in Syria.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov had opposed requests to ground Russian and Syrian fighter jets and stop the bombardment of terrorist positions.

“The question now is whether there remains any real chance of moving forward, because it is clear that we cannot continue on the same path any longer,” Kerry said.

“The first thing that we have to do is to find a way to restore credibility to the process. The only way to achieve that is if the ones that have the air power in that part of the conflict simply stop using it,” the top US diplomat commented.

Kerry said he would meet Lavrov again on Friday, though confidence-building measures seemed beyond reach at this point.

ME