Talks sought to rid Aleppo of rebels

BEIRUT/ROME/MOSCOW: Russia has said it is ready for talks with the US about a withdrawal of all Syrian rebels from eastern Aleppo, where advances by the Russian-backed Syrian army and its allies threaten to deal a crushing blow to the rebellion.

In just over a week, the army and allied militias have seized large areas of opposition-held territory in eastern Aleppo in a fierce campaign that may leave the rebels with no choice but to seek a negotiated passage out of their area.

With tens of thousands of civilians still living in the rebels’ shrinking besieged enclave, the UN envoy for Syria suggested eastern Aleppo could fall by the end of the year and hoped a way could be found to avoid a “terrible battle”.

Responding to the Russian proposal, an official with an Aleppo rebel group said commanders in the city had vowed to fight on. They would support the opening of corridors for civilians to leave the city, but would not surrender it.

The government advances in Aleppo have brought Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to the brink of his biggest victory yet in a civil war that has been raging since 2011.

Backed by the Russian air force and Shia militias from Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, the government has gradually closed in on eastern Aleppo this year, encircling the eastern parts of the city before launching a major assault in September.

The UN estimates that close to 30 000 people have been displaced by the latest fighting, 18 000 of them leaving to government-held areas and a further 8 500 going to the Kurdish-controlled neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsoud.

Supplies of food and fuel are critically low in eastern Aleppo. Hospitals have been repeatedly bombed out of operation. Hundreds have been killed in the bombardments.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said more than 100000 people may still be in the rebel-held area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group, said it could be as many as 200 000 people.

Russia, which has assumed a pivotal role in Syria since it deployed its air force there 15 months ago, said the withdrawal of all rebels would “normalise life” in eastern Aleppo.

“We are immediately ready to send out military experts, diplomats to Geneva to agree on mutual actions with our American colleagues to ensure the pullout of all the rebels without exclusion from eastern Aleppo,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

There was no immediate comment from the US, which has backed some of the rebel groups fighting Assad, including Free Syrian Army factions fighting in the Aleppo area.

Long outgunned by the Syrian military, Russia’s air force and militias that include Lebanon’s battle-hardened Hezbollah, the rebels say they have been abandoned to their fate by foreign governments including the US.

With no good options, the rebels have been holding talks with Russian officials which they say had produced agreements including the departure of all jihadist fighters from Aleppo. The aim was a ceasefire where FSA rebels would stay in the city. – Reuters