Syria fighting cuts off passage to rebel part of Aleppo — UN

GENEVA — Intensified fighting between Syrian government forces and rebels north of Aleppo has completely cut off access for humanitarian aid deliveries into the rebel-held part of the contested city, a UN spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Alessandra Vellucci told reporters that the passageway known as the Castello road, which is considered the only access in and out of eastern Aleppo, has been rendered “impassable” since hostilities there worsened starting Thursday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, expressed concern that the UN’s Syria envoy was “shirking his responsibilities” to reconvene stalled peace talks.

Lavrov said UN envoy Staffan de Mistura was apparently waiting for Washington and Moscow to agree on a political transition before reconvening indirect talks between the Syrian government and the opposition that last broke down in April.

“This is not the right approach,” Lavrov said during a visit to Azerbaijan.

Lavrov said he was hoping to work out a common approach with US Secretary of State John Kerry during his visit to Moscow later this week based on a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the five-year war.

 “On this basis we will then work with Staffan de Mistura so that he conscientiously fulfills his obligations,” Lavrov said.

Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has in recent months worked with the United States, which supports the rebels, to try and secure a ceasefire leading to a political transition, with no success.

De Mistura’s office declined to comment. He has set a target date of August 1 to restart talks, but said conditions need to be ripe for progress toward political transition in Syria — what he has called the “mother of all issues”. He has said that behind-the-scenes diplomacy has been continuing.

The fighting has, meanwhile, intensified in Aleppo, with rebels shelling government districts and warplanes striking rebel-held areas. Amid the heavy fighting, government forces were able to effectively cut off the Castello Road, raising fears of a new humanitarian crisis. The UN estimates that 300,000 people depend on Castello Road.

“We continue to receive distressing reports of aerial bombardment and shelling on civilian locations in both western and eastern Aleppo city,” said Vellucci, the UN spokeswoman. She urged the parties “to take all measures to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access to all civilians living in Aleppo city, as required under international humanitarian law”.

Once Syria’s commercial centre, Aleppo has been bitterly contested since the summer of 2012. The latest fighting came despite an unilateral ceasefire declared by the Syrian military last week, which was later extended to Thursday.

A Turkey-based Syrian opposition figure, Osama Taljo, warned on Tuesday at a press conference in Istanbul that the vast majority of those who are now encircled in Aleppo are civilians, mostly women and children.

“The rebels have numerous ways of getting supplies and improvising roads but those at risk are the women and children. This is why we need the international community to take action,” he said, speaking on behalf of various opposition factions in Aleppo.

Taljo derided the government’s declared ceasefires, which he said are a cover for military assaults. “The cessation of hostilities means an escalation in hostile acts by the regime,” he told reporters.

As government forces closed the Castello Road, rebels hit back with an offensive on government-held districts Monday. The rebel shelling and ensuing clashes were some of the most intense yet near the old quarter and the city’s famed citadel.