Bharat Rakshak

Syrian army troops advance on Aleppo as Nato calls air strikes 'blatant violation of international law'
More than 250,000 civilians trapped in east Aleppo as Syrian army forces push forward in what is feared could be a 'monstrous' attack

Bethan McKernan Beirut
Syrian government forces gather in the largely deserted Palestinian refugee camp of Handarat, north of Aleppo, on September 24, 2016 AFP/Getty
An army ground offensive on four different fronts has begun on rebel-held areas of the besieged city of Aleppo, Syrian state media is reporting.

The ground movement comes after five days of intense air strikes on east Aleppo, including the reported use of bunker-buster ground penetrating bombs and incendiary devices which have destroyed civilian infrastructure including a water station and emergency response centres. Activists on the ground say more than 400 people have died.

Nato said on Tuesday that the Russian backed attacks on Aleppo are in "blatant violation of international law." There are now fears that the approximately 250,000 people inside besieged rebel areas could be facing an "atrocity that would resonate in history," one diplomat warned.

READ MORE
'It could resonate in history': Experts warn of 'monstrous' attack by Assad on Aleppo
France accuses Assad of war crimes in Aleppo
Syrian war: Dozens of civilians killed as almost 2 million left without water by ‘relentless’ air strikes in Aleppo
The Syrian army and allied militias attacked at the same time on Tuesday around the Palestinian Handarat camp north of Aleppo, at the nearby Kindi Hospital area, in the Rashidin district in the centre of the city and at the 1070 Apartments district in the southwest.

Troops are also said to be advancing in the contested Old Quarter, where they have captured several buildings, towards the rebel neighbourhood of Farafra.

A military official speaking on condition of anonymity told the AP on Tuesday that the offensive will continue daily on all fronts until "terrorists" in east Aleppo are "wiped out."

A rebel official told Reuters that Tuesday's attacks had been faught off, but they expect two more assaults on a rebel-held district in the south of the city.

Aleppo bears the brunt in another day of carnage and defiance
Leaflets dropped on the city in the last day sought to assure trapped residents "there are no boundaries between us, break fears within you and come back to your normal life," urging them to flee to government-held parts of the city. However, several reports from the ground say that those who tried to approach the siege barricades were shot at by snipers. There are no reports of any east Aleppo civilians crossing over into western districts.

Another leaflet warns rebel fighters to surrender or die, showing the portraits of leaders recently killed in clashes struck through with red crosses.

The Syrian government announced last week following the collapse of a US-Russian brokered ceasefire that it intends to retake Aleppo - the last major rebel stronghold - for good.

Government forces briefly captured Handarat from rebels on Saturday, but lost it in a counter attack the same day. Minor clashes in several other areas have so far been repelled by the opposition.

The leader of a Syrian-government allied elite Iraqi militia told Reuters on Tuesday that his soldiers were moving tanks and armoured vehicles in preparation for an assault on opposition-held east of the city.

East Aleppo's supply lines were completely shut off by goverment forces in July, leaving residents inside living in siege conditions. There are only 35 doctors left in the district caring for hundreds of wounded, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"WHO is calling for the immediate establishment of humanitarian routes to evacuate sick and wounded from the eastern part of the city," spokesperson Fadela Chaib said from Geneva.

The Syrian regime has not attempted to retake rebel neighbourhoods by means of a ground offensive since 2012.

Recapturing rebel districts of Aleppo would greatly strengthen President Bashar al-Assad's position in the six-year-long war, effectively wiping out non-Islamist resistance from all major cities and leaving pockets of opposition in the far north and south of the country.

Austin wrote:Saudi planning to give Manpads to Rebels

Wealthy Gulf states may arm Syrian rebels to ‘get the Russians to back off’ - US officials

https://www.rt.com/news/360800-gulf-arm-rebels-syria/

...
btw if the americans really mean that they did a mistake and there is talk that USA apologized to Syria for Jabal Tharda as per Lavrov and the US military did the kill job without permission from Obama and this is a rogue unit of air force that conducted this operation.

If one believes this tale to be true, then it can only mean that Obama has been elected as a figurehead with no stakes in leadership and just a face that can talk but can not make anyone obey....

Gulf Arming Syrian Rebels: 'Weapons Will Come from Qatar, Saudi Arabia & UAE' © AFP 2016/ FADI AL-HALABI

MIDDLE EAST 10:29 28.09. The collapse of the latest Syrian ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States has heightened the possibility that Gulf states might provide arms to radical groups. Dr. Taleb Ibrahim, Deputy Director of Damascus center for International and Strategic Studies, told Sputnik that Syrian rebels have already received weapons from Sunni monarchies. "I think [weapons] will possibly come from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE)," he said, adding that in fact, they have already been delivered. The analyst also noted that it was just a matter of time when the Guld states "give permission to Syrian terrorists – they call them moderates, but we know that they are real terrorists – to use" the weapons. Dr. Taleb Ibrahim also said that the US has ostensibly provided the BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles and night vision equipment to the militants trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. The latter is "critical" with regard to the Syrian conflict since radical groups mostly launch attacks at night. © SPUTNIK/ MICHAEL ALAEDDIN Behind the Scenes: 'Something Very Serious Transpired Between Russia and US Over Syria' The analyst added that the militants seem to have "very advanced communications." Dr. Taleb Ibrahim further said that "there are no moderates on the ground" in Syria, but rather groups affiliated with al-Nusra Front or al-Qaeda. He cited Ahrar al-Sham, an organization that Russia, unlike the US, considers to be a terrorist group, as an example. "Ahrar al-Sham is a part of al-Qaeda. The founder of Ahrar al-Sham [Hassan Aboud was] a top member of al-Qaeda. Other groups are the same. So I think that the US is lying and there is a kind of harsh hypocrisy" since the US, the Gulf states and others "know very well that there are no moderates on the ground," he said. © REUTERS/ AMMAR ABDULLAH 'Americans Are on Our Side': Al-Nusra Front Allegedly Receiving Weapons 'Directly' From US In the analyst's opinion, the United States and the Gulf states want to provide weapons to al-Qaeda, but they cannot do this openly. This is why they came up with the term "moderates" which they use as an "excuse to justify their acts in working shoulder to shoulder with al-Qaeda." Dr. Taleb Ibrahim also noted that the US could restore peace in Syria. "If the United States really wants to put an end to the war and fight terrorism," Washington should simply "call Turkish President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] and Saudi King [Salman]" and ask them to "stop financing and supporting the militants," the analyst said. "In a few days those militants should vanish."

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/2016 ... ebels.html

Turkey security council to recommend extending state of emergency.

Preparations under way for Putin to visit Turkey in October: Kremlin

Extremist groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which could include attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities. Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and will continue to lose resources, perhaps even aircraft,” John Kirby, the State Department's spokesperson, told reporters at Wednesday's press briefing.

“It became known that terrorist groups are preparing provocative attacks with chemical weapons on Syrian army positions and residential areas in the east part of Aleppo to accuse government forces [of the attacks],” said Lt. Gen. Viktor Poznikhir, the first deputy chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff.