Syrian government closes in on Daraa

“We know that humanitarian aid routes have been cut off – certainly the most significant ones – and there continues to be bombardment from the air, obviously by Russian military aircraft”, Kirby said.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest expressed concern that government forces backed by Russian Federation threatened Aleppo.

Since then, the regime has recaptured several key rebel towns in Latakia province – Assad’s coastal heartland – and advanced in Aleppo province and in Daraa in the south.

The previously divided Security Council endorsed the peace process in a unanimous resolution in mid-December that calls for “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance” in Syria within six months and U.N.-supervised elections within 18 months under a new constitution.

“The regime is now trying to expand the area it has taken control of”, he added.

As the offensive raged, diplomatic tensions were also rising, with Moscow accusing opposition supporter Ankara of preparing to invade Syria, saying it had spotted troops and military equipment on the border. The U.N. said it was suspending the talks but hoped to restart them on February 25, but that plan was quickly put in doubt.

Moscow says its targets in Syria are restricted to Islamic State and al-Qaida’s Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, both of which were excluded from peace talks and unacceptable to the countries supporting the insurgents against Assad.

The border gate between Syria and Turkey was closed on Friday and no refugee has been admitted, prompting the human rights advocacy group Amnesty International to call on Turkey to allow those who have massed at the border to cross in. Turkey “must not close its doors to people in desperate need of safety”, said Amnesty’s Global Issues Director Sherif Elsayed-Ali.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in London that the USA needed to confront Russian Federation more directly to stop its air campaign.

The World Bank yesterday estimated the war has cost Syria and its neighbours – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt – some US$35 billion so far.

Relations between Russia and Turkey have deteriorated badly since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. “We are in difficulty because of the cold. They came to the border in hard conditions”.

The United Nations estimates that up to 20,000 people displaced by military operations around Aleppo have gathered at the Bab al-Salam border crossing with Turkey. “People have fled from more than 10 villages, towns and cities over the past four days as a result of the heavy airstrikes”, said Yassin Abu Raed, a media officer for the Syrian Revolutionary Forces, an antigovernment activist group.

“You can move a lot more through a convoy of trucks than you can through pallets that are dropped out of a military transport aircraft”, he said.

Member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, including European Union, Germany, Britain and the United States, have pledged over $10 billion (€9.0 billion) to help conflict-hit Syrians – to provide food, education and job opportunities in their homeland and neighbouring countries where they have fled.

Russia still hasn’t received any data from Turkey concerning the alleged incident with the Russian warplane, which Ankara accused of violating its airspace, Konashenkov said.