Airstrikes unleashed after Putin, Trump talk

BEIRUT • With waves of air attacks and missile strikes, Russian forces launched a major new offensive Tuesday against rebel-held areas in Syria, as activists reported the first airstrikes in nearly a month on the battered eastern districts of Aleppo.

A Russian carrier group off Syria — ordered to the Mediterranean Sea by Russian President Vladimir Putin in a show of support for Syrian leader Bashar Assad — unleashed its considerable firepower, and government forces tightened their siege on rebel-held Aleppo.

Russia’s assault kicked off just hours after Putin and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, speaking by phone, agreed to combine efforts in Syria to defeat what Moscow has said is its enemy in the fight: “international terrorism and extremism.”

The Obama administration has been aiding what it sees as moderate opponents of Assad and has tried for months to broker a ceasefire in Aleppo, while continuing the fight against al-Qaida’s Syrian affiliate, which in some places has been battling alongside the rebels. Russia describes all rebel groups as “terrorists,” and Trump’s blanket statements about joining Russia have been seen in Moscow as tacitly supporting this view.

The divided northern city has become the epicentre of the battle for Syria, as one of the last urban bastions of factions opposing Assad. The government’s recapture of Aleppo could hasten the fall of remaining rebel strongholds across the country.

Speaking in Sochi, Russia, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said “massive strikes” were waged against positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and an al-Qaida-linked militant group in Idlib and Homs provinces. The regions are north of Damascus and include rebel-held zones, but do not cover Aleppo.

Shoigu told Putin in a Kremlin meeting that Su-33 jets were launched from the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov and that the frigate Admiral Grigorivch launched cruise missile strikes. Land-based missiles were also launched in the attack. In Aleppo, civilians and rebel fighters said missiles and barrel bombs struck targets across at least five neighbourhoods in the city’s rebelheld east, an area controlled by anti-Assad fighters.

The White Helmets civilian rescue group said it documented more than 100 attacks, some involving cluster munitions. Russia has promised an all-out offensive to retake Aleppo, giving fighters and civilians a sunset deadline earlier this month to leave rebel-held districts. For 15 days, the city had waited, watching as warplanes streaked overhead, only to drop their loads on the western countryside instead. But by midday Tuesday, the attacks resumed. “You could hear airstrikes all over the city,” said Amir Ragab, 54. “We’ve had so many false rumours and promises about this final assault — I can only live day-by-day and put by faith in God.”