ISIL back in ancient city of Palmyra
Assad pounds east Aleppo as the US decries war crimes
ALEPPO // ISIL fighters yesterday re-entered Palmyra, Syria’s ancient city from which they were ousted eight months ago.
The extremists seized the Unesco’s world heritage site in May last year and vandalised many of its ancient sites, before they were driven out in March by Syrian regime forces backed by Russia.
ISIL began an offensive in recent days near the town and now occupies its north- west, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “There is also fighting with the army in the city centre.”
The ISIL offensive came as air strikes pummelled the shrinking rebel territory in Aleppo and as US secretary of state John Kerry said the Syrian regime’s indiscriminate bombing amounted to crimes against humanity. Western powers meeting in Paris called for peace talks to resume and for civilians to be allowed to leave Aleppo, where tens of thousands have already fled a fierce regime offensive.
The three-week assault by Syria’s regime aimed at retaking all of Aleppo has triggered rising international outrage.
“The indiscriminate bombing by the regime violates rules of law, or in many cases crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Mr Kerry said after the talks, urging Russia to do its “utmost to bring it to a close”. US and Russian officials meanwhile were due to gather in Geneva for what Mr Kerry described as a bid to stop Aleppo from “being absolutely, completely, destroyed”.
In less than a month, forces loyal to Bashar Al Assad have overrun around 85 per cent of eastern Aleppo, a rebel stronghold since 2012.
The UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the world is watching “the last steps” in the battle for Aleppo and evacuating civilians must be a priority.
Air strikes and regime rocket fire battered the last remaining rebel districts yesterday.
The strikes were so intense that windows in the city’s west rattled and plumes of smoke rose from several points across the skyline.
“The bombing is unreal,” said Ibrahim Abu Al Leith, spokesman for the White Helmets rescue force inside Aleppo
“The streets are full of people under the rubble. They are dying because we can’t get them out.”
The observatory said nine civilians were killed yesterday by rocket fire on government-controlled neighbourhoods.
The attacks brought to 129 people, including 39 children, the number killed by rebel fire in western Aleppo since November 15.
Another 413 civilians, among them 45 children, were killed in eastern Aleppo in the same period.
With fighting intensifying after a brief respite, a strong majority in the UN General Assembly demanded an immediate ceasefire and urgent aid deliveries. But Moscow and Damascus have rejected talk of a truce without a rebel withdrawal from the city – a demand that opposition groups have refused.
After meeting opposition representatives yesterday, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that the opposition was willing to resume peace talks “without pre-conditions”.
Retired US general David Petraeus, a possible contender to replace Mr Kerry when Donald Trump becomes US president next month, expressed doubt about prospects for a political solution in Syria.
“It is not clear that Humpty Dumpty can be put back togeth- er again,” he said at a security forum in Bahrain.
“I don’t think it’s too late for that but I do think that it is very late in the day indeed.”
The Observatory said another 2,000 civilians poured out of Aleppo’s remaining rebel-held districts yesterday. The state news agency Sana said 3,000 people had fled the district and had been taken to the temporary shelter in Jibrin, about 10 kilometres to the east of Aleppo.
The UN said on Friday that it had received reports of rebels blocking some from leaving and of reprisals against residents who asked armed groups to go.
It has also expressed concern about reports that hundreds of men had gone missing after fleeing to government-held territory.
The fall of eastern Aleppo would be the biggest blow for the rebels since the war began in 2011.