New Raids on Rebel Aleppo ahead of Talks to Save City

Fresh air strikes pummelled the shrinking rebel enclave in Aleppo on Saturday ahead of parallel talks in France and Switzerland aimed at saving the Syrian city from "complete" destruction.
Foreign ministers from the Western and Arab backers of Syria's beleaguered opposition -- including US Secretary of State John Kerry -- were to discuss Aleppo's plight in Paris.
US and Russian officials meanwhile were to gather in Geneva in a bid to stop the city from "being absolutely, completely, destroyed", Kerry said.
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-old war.
The city's east -- a rebel stronghold since 2012 -- has been the target of a major assault by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's Russian-backed regime.
In less than a month, government troops and allied militia have overrun around 85 percent of east Aleppo, trapping rebels in just a few neighbourhoods.
Air strikes and regime rocket fire battered the last remaining rebel districts early Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Opposition groups fired back with rockets, according to the British-based monitor, which did not have immediate details on casualties in the exchange of fire.
An AFP correspondent in west Aleppo could hear the hum of airplanes circling above, coupled with bombardment and machine gunfire on the city's east.
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.
- 'Bombing is unreal' -"The bombing is unreal," said Ibrahim Abu al-Leith, spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force inside Aleppo.
Abu al-Leith spoke to AFP from one of the last rebel-controlled zones in Aleppo's southeast, saying he had been forced to move homes because of the intensity of the raids.
"The streets are full of people under the rubble. They are dying because we can't get them out," he added.
On Friday, a barrage of rebel rockets on regime-held neighbourhoods in Aleppo killed 15 civilians, including four children, according to the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.
Two shells landed in rebel-held Kalasseh, with both the Observatory and witnesses telling AFP on Friday of cases of suffocation and head pains due to fumes from the attack.
The opposition has accused the regime of using chlorine gas on rebel zones, which Damascus denies.
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.
Repeated talks between Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week have failed to halt the violence, although Lavrov said Friday he hoped a truce deal could be reached soon.
Kerry was not upbeat about the chances of success ahead of the meetings in Paris and Geneva on Saturday.
"I know people are tired of these meetings, I'm tired of these meetings," Kerry said.
"But what am I supposed to do? Go home and have a nice weekend... while people are dying? Sit there in Washington and do nothing?"
- New US troops -At least 409 civilians including 45 children have been killed in the government's offensive on east Aleppo launched on November 15, according to the Observatory.
Another 113 people, including 35 children, have been killed by rebel fire on government-controlled west Aleppo in the same period.
Tens of thousands of civilians have fled east Aleppo in recent weeks, although the UN said Friday it had received reports of rebels blocking some from leaving and of reprisals against residents who asked armed groups to leave.
It also expressed concern about reports that hundreds of men had gone missing after fleeing to government-held territory.
The fall of east Aleppo would be the biggest blow for the rebels since Syria's conflict broke out in early 2011.
It began as a widespread protest movement against Assad's regime but has since evolved into an all-out war that has seen jihadists like the Islamic State group rise to prominence.
On Saturday, Washington said it would send another 200 US troops to Syria to help an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters seize IS's bastion of Raqa.
The fresh dispatch, announced by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter in Bahrain, will complement 300 American special forces already in Syria.

remember hama, the son is no better than the father... if staying in power means to kill its own people they will do it with the full support of hezbis...

takfiri terrorists are not "people", let alone syria's "own people"

the son probably should have done what the father did in hama, acting hard and fast instead of being nice and giving those terrorists and their western, turkish and gulfy backers time to arm train and organize.

no war can be victimless, but that is not a reason for syria to surrender it's country to terrorists without a fight
want to blame someone for the innocent victims? how about the sauds, western powers, turks and other who poured in weapons, financed terrorists and encouraged them to bring syria to the situation it is in? it's too easy to start wars abroad and then they sit in their cosy armchairs criticizing and accusing those who are defending themselves.

"a fight"? it is butchery not fight when you indiscriminately kill civilians and it is called war crimes, but you have no notion of what it is, it only applies to israel when they kill lebanese civilians but of course not to syria...
typical hezbi double standards...
useless to discuss with fanatics they believe they are always right even when proven the contrary...

Mowaten I'm not a big poster here but I have been using this site for over 49 years and recently I have been liking your posts, your the only one informing these deluded ignorants. :)

Assad Relies on Foreign Fighters in Push to Retake Aleppo
"We, the Shiites, are fighting to defend our ideology, religion, holy places and the state against terrorists," said a Shiite cleric in Beirut. He would only give his first name, Mohsen, because he did not want to appear as if he is inciting violence."
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/221871-assad-relies-on-foreign-fighters-in-push-to-retake-aleppo
but you don't see the filthy iranian troll commenting on the above article;)!

true, no "filthy iranian troll" commented on it, but I did. never mind the fact you were wrong about the most basic fact (as usual), what was the point you were hoping to make?

ps: i love how associated press are on first-name basis with anonymous "shiite clerics" who will say exactly what they need for their propaganda piece. hilarious.

the filthy despicable iranian troll commented on the article after it was forced to and its comment is as pathetic as his life is.
Assad Relies on Foreign Fighters in Push to Retake Aleppo
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/221871-assad-relies-on-foreign-fighters-in-push-to-retake-aleppo

is the filthy iranian troll saying his shia are not fighting a religious sectarian war? LOL go go spew your propaganda to the shias of manar.iran;)

but the shia atheist (who is feeling the Christmas spirit these days) has no problem quoting Associated Press when it suits his wilayat al faqih ideology and agenda.

after i was "forced to"?? ahhahaha by who? my comment predates yours scumbo, look at the timestamps and then go throw yourself from a window sectarian scum.

oh i see you liked my christmas song ex-fpm? here it is again, you learn it by heart:
Dashing through the scum
In big tanks or fighter jets
O'er the fields we go
Laughing all the way
Pulverizing jihadis
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to ride and sing
A slaying song tonight!
Jihadis, jihadis,
Jihadis getting crushed!
Oh! what fun it is to ride
in big tanks and fighter jets

right after the bushes sr and jr are judged for the 2,000,000 iraqis they killed in their wars of agressions and lust for oil.

he doesnt need any defense, he's doing very well on his own. you hypocrites however should stop hiding behind those fake institutions that claim to be serving justice while all they serve is the interests of powerful countries. they will bring africans and arabs to courts but never the real criminal, warmongers and war profiteers who plunder the world resources and flood it with weapons.

these institutions may be fake or biased, the americans also killed thousands of innocents, it is not a reason to defend a butcher under the childish excuse that these institutions are fake.
you shout that only to excuse your master and his crimes and shout shoukran souria! it give you a clear conciense, what the heck a few thousands of innocents killed, americans do the same!
you do not even want to trial this regime for the hundreds of lebanese they killed, for you they should stay unpunished as the institutions are fake! what a farce you are....
you are no better than the israelis or the americans you criticize, same terrorists you are.....

Why do you have to bring up Bush, when someone mentions Assad?
Why do you have to bring up Saudi Arabia, when someone attacks Iran?
Why do you have to brung up Israel, when someone criticizes Ebola?
Is this your only line of defence MoMo, you pathetic creature...

coming from the people who bring up hezbollah on every article, no matter how unrelated, it's funny.

if the int'l tribunal isn't an American tool, it could have brought some western leaders and their GCC puppets to face trial for their implication in the killings of thousands of innocent Syrians and destruction of their country.
btw, time will tell once Aleppo is freed and later the rest of the terrorirst cells.

sure assad is not bombing his own country and people thus not participating in its destruction....

poor FT, always trying to look smart but always pathectically failing....
1/ civilians were evacuated in nahr el bared
2/ have you seen the lebanese army bomb tripoli saida, dahye sour jbeil and so on...? asking foreign fighter jets to help them cities of lebanon?
so please when trying to be smart compare what is comparable , keep you BS to impress your friends in the playground....
go to bed it is better for a child instead of playing the adult....

yes, a month ago when the troll flamethrower was not posting as flamethrower but as a troll with 20 different aliases per article.

The best part of flametroller's comments is the 'entertainment' portion which we all love and not the trolling portion.