Rebels in Aleppo have told the United States they will not leave their besieged enclave in the city after Moscow called for talks with Washington over their withdrawal, signalling they will fight on even after their top commander was wounded.
A Syrian military source said the army aimed to take full control of Aleppo within weeks, after seizing significant areas of the city’s rebel-held east in an advance poised to deal a major blow to the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.
With more than 30,000 people uprooted by the latest fighting, residents who fled eastern Aleppo for government-held areas early in the war began returning to the Hanano district recently captured from the rebels to inspect their homes.
Under relentless attack, the rebels may eventually have no choice but to negotiate a withdrawal from their shrinking enclave in eastern Aleppo, where tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be sheltering.
The western and regional states that have backed the rebellion appear unwilling or unable to do anything to prevent a major defeat for the opposition fighting to topple Mr Assad, who has benefited from direct Russian and Iranian military support.
UN truce proposal
The UN Security Council is due to vote on Monday on a draft resolution that would demand an initial seven-day truce in Aleppo, which could then be renewed. But it was unclear if Moscow would veto the resolution.
Russia, whose air force has helped the government close in on eastern Aleppo this year, said on Saturday it was ready for talks with the United States over a full withdrawal of rebels from Aleppo.
The rebels said the Russians had retreated from proposals agreed at talks with rebel groups in Turkey that would have resulted in jihadist fighters leaving the city, a ceasefire and humanitarian aid deliveries.
The United Nations estimates that close to 30,000 people have been displaced by the latest fighting, 18,000 leaving to government-held areas, a further 8,500 going to the Kurdish-controlled neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsoud and the rest moving within rebel-held areas.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said more than 100,000 people may still be in the rebel-held area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that reports on the war, said it could be as many as 200,000 people.
Food running out
Food and fuel supplies are critically low in eastern Aleppo, where hospitals have been repeatedly bombed out of operation.
The rebels, including foreign-backed groups, say they have been abandoned to their fate in a war against better armed enemies including the Russian air force and Lebanon’s highly trained Hizbullah.
In another blow to the rebels, the head of a new rebel alliance was seriously wounded on Saturday, rebel officials said. Abu Abdelrahman Nour will be replaced as head of the "Aleppo army" he was appointed to lead last week.
The army and its allies have opened numerous fronts against the rebel-held east in what rebels see as an effort to deplete their ammunition and men. Senior rebel official Zakaria Malahifji said the rebels could remain steadfast for “an excellent period” of time.
– Reuters