Air Raid Near Aleppo Kills Syrian Rebel Leader

The US-led coalition, Russian Federation and Syria have been conducting airstrikes against foreign-sponsored militant groups operating inside Syria.

It said it wanted to remove any pretext for attacks on Syrian civilians, a move that was dismissed by Washington.

“Within last 24 hours, in the Aleppo province terrorists have fired with MLRS and mortars against the Khai-al-Ansari and “1070”, areas of the the military school of armament and the “Kastello” trade centre”.

The embattled city of Aleppo and surrounding districts have seen some of the fiercest clashes in Syria’s civil war in recent months.

But this week regime loyalists backed by Russian jets recaptured almost all of the territory taken last month and reimposed the blockade on the estimated 250,000 civilians in rebel-held neighbourhoods.

In Geneva, Secretary of State John Kerry was once more locked in talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, but U.S. officials warned that negotiations could not go on forever without a breakthrough. A deal hinges on an unlikely U.S.

The major Russian military campaign at the end of past year turned the tide in Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s favour and thwarted the Sunni insurgents’ rapid gains that brought them close to Assad’s minority Alawite stronghold on the coast. Washington would have to persuade the anti-Assad rebels it supports to end any coordination with al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria and other extremist groups.

“Very big questions remain surrounding how exactly the US and Russian Federation plan to determine areas where the opposition is sufficiently distant from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and where they are in fact too close and thus legitimate counter-terrorism targets”, said Charles Lister a Middle East Institute fellow who has written a book on jihadist dynamics in the Syria conflict.

“We are all hoping for positive conclusions”.

Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meet in Geneva.

De Mistura reiterated the concerns over the situation in eastern Aleppo, saying the area may run out of fuel within days.

He led a major offensive by the Army of Conquest in spring past year that saw it seize control of almost all of the northwestern province of Idlib.

Friday’s air raids on the city’s southern edge came after a wave of bombings, including suspected gas attacks, blamed on the government.