Damascus backs Syria talks, wants list of ‘terrorist groups’ and opposition

The death toll in an air strike on a rebel-held Syrian town on Saturday climbed to 57, and the target was a court house operated by the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The air strike on the town of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province also wounded a large number of people, many of whom were in critical condition, it said.

The peace talks with hopes of a ceasefire were part of an worldwide bid endorsed by the UN Security Council to end the conflict in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people over the past years.

Separately, the Local Coordination Committees said that the Russian warplane fired four rockets in the airstrike, targeting a popular marketplace and the vicinity of the courthouse in Maret al-Numan.

On Friday, more than 20 rebel groups published a statement denouncing the global community for pressuring the opposition to “make concessions” in the peace process, accusing world powers of being “complicit” in the suffering of Syrians. Syria is ready to attend peace talks later this month in Geneva but the government wants to see lists of the opposition groups who will attend and ensure that “terrorist” groups that will not, the country’s foreign minister said Saturday according to SANA.

Separately a spokesman said humanitarian groups could begin delivering much-needed aid in three besieged Syrian towns as early as Sunday. As Syria reels from civil war a six-month-long blockade of Madaya by the Syrian Army and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah has trapped about 40000 residents now enduring a harsh winter.

The United Nations said last week that the Bashar al-Assad government had agreed to allow the deliveries after the Britain-based observatory said at least 10 people died in Madaya from lack of food and medicine. “We are loading the trucks and sending the movement notifications”, Krzysiek said.

Rescue workers and rights groups say Russia’s bombing in Syria has killed scores of civilians at busy market places and in residential areas.