Conditions at ‘ crisis point’ as fighting flares

Dozens of international aid groups warned that humanitarian conditions in Syria’s northwest have reached a new “crisis point,” as government troops push to retake the rebels’ last stronghold.

The violence has effectively shattered a cease- fire negotiated by Russia and Turkey, in place since September. Russia has firmly backed President Bashar Assad’s government in the eight-year civil war, while Turkey has supported rebel factions.

In their appeal issued Friday, some 70 aid groups called for an immediate end to the fighting. They said the violence has displaced an estimated 180,000 people in the last two weeks alone.