Syrian regime forces cut off the last road into rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Thursday, effectively laying siege to eastern portions of the city just a day after the Syrian army announced a 72-hour ceasefire, Reuters reported.
“Currently nobody can get in or out of Aleppo,” said Zakaria Malahifji, a senior official in the rebel group Fastaqim. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that 250,000 to 300,000 people live in rebel-held parts of the city.
The regime of Bashar al-Assad has been trying to encircle Aleppo for years, and launched a major offensive backed by Russian air strikes starting in October of 2015. The regime’s latest advance is being carried out with the aid of Iranian fighters, Malahifji said. According to a top official of the Aleppo rebel group Jabha Shamiya, most of the forces are Lebanese and Afghan. The Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah committed to sending more fighters to Aleppo last month.
The move to capture territory directly overlooking the Castello Road, the last rebel-controlled road leading out of Syria, came just a day after Secretary of State John Kerry praised the Assad regime for announcing a three-day truce in honor of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan.
“We very much welcome the Syrian Army declaration of the 72-hour period of quiet in celebration of and in honour of Eid,” Kerry said Wednesday. He added that he hoped the truce could be “a harbinger of possibilities to come” for ending the conflict.
On Thursday, the State Department said the Assad regime’s continuing attacks in Aleppo and Damascus suburbs were deeply disturbing, and urged Russia to intervene.
The Syrian regime has repeatedly announced and broken truces in the past. In February, Kerry and other international leaders helped negotiate a ceasefire between the regime and rebel factions, represented by the umbrella organization ISSG, or International Syria Support Group. However, the regime continued to fight against rebel groups after the ceasefire came into effect, claiming that they were battling al-Nusra and the Islamic State, two groups that were not party to the agreement.
The ceasefire collapsed completely less than two months later amid a regime offensive against rebels in Lattakia province. According to reports on the ground, Russian warplanes continued to bomb rebel targets throughout the duration of the ceasefire.
The Syrian regime’s Thursday advance came a day after President Barack Obama called Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Syria. In a public statement at the end of June, Obama proposed greater cooperation with Russia on the Syrian crisis.
[Photo: Qasion News Agency EN / YouTube]