Battles around Syria’s Aleppo cast shadow over peace talks

BEIRUT: Fierce fighting raged Friday around Syria’s Aleppo as a surge in violence forced tens of thousands more to flee their homes, overshadowing the latest round of peace talks in Geneva.

The clashes on several fronts have put a strain on a fragile cease-fire in place since Feb. 27, and left more than 200 fighters on all sides of the civil war dead in recent days.
The delegation representing President Bashar Assad’s regime arrived Friday in Geneva where UN-brokered indirect talks between representatives of the government and opposition were due to be held.
However, the fighting around Syria’s second city Aleppo cast a shadow over international efforts to end the five-year war, which has left more than 270,000 people dead and forced millions to flee their homes.
Troops and militiamen loyal to Assad’s regime have fought Daesh group fighters to the southeast of Aleppo city this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
They also battled militants from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front and allied rebels in the flashpoint area of Handarat north of Aleppo city, it said.
Meanwhile Daesh fought rebels near the Turkish border, the Britain-based group added.
On one Aleppo front alone — pitting rebels against Daesh — fighting has forced about 30,000 civilians to flee, according to Human Rights Watch.
In total, at least 210 fighters on all sides have been killed in the battles around Aleppo since Sunday.
Among them were 82 army troops and pro-regime militiamen, 94 members of Al-Nusra Front and allied rebel groups, and 34 IS jihadists, the Observatory said.
The heaviest losses came near Al-Eis in the south of Aleppo province where 50 regime troops and loyalist militia fighters were killed along with 61 Al-Nusra and allied fighters, it added.
The latest violence came a day after a senior official in Washington told AFP that the United States was “very concerned” about reports of a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive near Aleppo.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also expressed concern about the Aleppo offensive and called for the “respect, consolidation, and expansion” of the truce.
Even though Daesh and Al-Nusra are excluded from the truce, violence around Aleppo has sparked concerns that the cease-fire may collapse, partly because rebels are involved in the battles there too.
“Aleppo is the key to war and peace in Syria,” Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
“Every side in the war has a stake in Aleppo.”