Civilians flee town under attack

Geneva – Thousands of people have fled a rebel-held town in Syria after it was bombed and shelled in an operation that has prompted fears of a major assault by ground troops, the United Nations said today.

The fighting came as peace talks in Geneva neared the end of a second round with the government and opposition sides as far from agreement as ever, both sticking to their known positions.

Military action in the town of Yabroud, in western Syria near the border with Lebanon, would fit with the government’s aim of securing a corridor linking Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad’s heartland on the Mediterranean coast.

‘‘We have received reports from within Syria that there have been numerous aerial attacks and shelling along with a military buildup around the town, suggesting a major assault by land may be imminent,’’ UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said.

‘‘We understand that there remains a large number of civilians in Yabroud, with some estimates suggesting as many as 40,000 to 50,000 people, with thousands of others fleeing over the last few days,’’ he said

Electricity was cut off on Thursday and field hospitals were short of medical supplies as scores of people require urgent treatment, Colville said in Geneva.

Failure to allow civilians to leave would amount to ‘‘grave violations’’ of international humanitarian law by Damascus, he said.

About 500 or 600 fleeing families had already arrived in Arsal, Lebanon, and the UN refugee

‘‘We have received reports from within Syria that there have been numerous aerial attacks and shelling along with a military buildup around the town, suggesting a major assault by land may be imminent.’’

agency expected a big influx across the border, UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

Al-Manar television, run by Assad’s allies in the Lebanese Shi’ite group Hizbollah, said the Syrian army had advanced in the Yabroud area, seizing control of the town’s main road and a nearby border crossing it said was used for smuggling.

In Geneva, international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi told delegates that he plans to take the talks into a third round but has not set a date for their resumption, opposition negotiator Ahmad Jakal said.

Brahimi said there would be a further session of talks tomorrow and he would fly to New York shortly to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Jakal said.

A senior Russian diplomat said Damascus was committed to peace talks but would not discuss the creation of a transitional governing body until its opponents pledge a joint fight against ‘‘terrorism’’, the term Syria uses for the revolt.

The opposition, meanwhile, has insisted that talk of ending the war, which has killed more than 130,000 people, is futile without agreeing on the transitional government that would oversee any peace deal.

Russia has been Assad’s most powerful international supporter during the conflict, using its veto in the UN Security Council to block Western and Arab efforts to pressure his government with condemnation and the threat of sanctions.

A senior US official said Syria’s government delegation had been ‘‘stonewalling every step of the way’’ in the Geneva talks and Washington expected Russia to pressure them to engage seriously in the peace process.

The only tangible achievement of the negotiations so far has been a temporary ceasefire in Homs to allow in humanitarian aid and to let people leave the city.

Males between 15 and 55 years old – of military age according to the Syrian authorities – have been held in a school for screening, raising fears they may be imprisoned, tortured or killed.

Elsewhere, a car bomb killed at least 32 people the town of alYadouda near the border with Jordan today, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

It also said rebels detonated mines in tunnels under a hotel used by the army in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least five soldiers.

On another front, fresh fighting broke out between rebels and the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The rebels today drove out ISIL from their positions in five Aleppo provincial towns, the Observatory said.