Syrian regime besiege rebel parts of Aleppo

ALEPPO, Syria — Syrian government forces Sunday besieged rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo after severing the last supply route into eastern areas, sparking concern for tens of thousands of civilians.

The United Nations says an estimated 300,00 people live in the rebel-controlled neighbourhoods of Syria's second city, and fears are mounting that they could face starvation.

After weeks of fierce fighting, government forces seized the strategic Castello Road, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"The eastern neighbourhoods are now completely besieged," he told AFP.

The UN's aid coordination body OCHA confirmed the report.

A statement said "government forces have captured parts of Castello Road today and the road is now completely closed to the movement of humanitarian supplies in and out of east Aleppo city".

OCHA said "the situation is particularly worrying due to the high concentration of people living in this area", who it said have not received humanitarian supplies since July 7.

"It is imperative that we respond to acute needs through predictable and sustained access to people in need," said OCHA.

The Syria Campaign, an advocacy group which calls for humanitarian action in the war-wracked country, was more blunt.

"The siege of eastern Aleppo has started," said the group's James Sadri.

"There are an estimated 300,000 civilians there, penned in and attacked by their own government. Without access to the outside world it is only a matter of time before we see starvation cases as in other parts of Syria."

The observatory said regime air strikes on rebel-held areas killed six civilians, including a child, while 16 rebel fighters died in the advance on Aleppo.

The city is divided roughly between government control in the west and rebel control in the east.

Castello Road had been used by rebels but also by shopkeepers bringing in produce for residents and by villagers visiting relatives in the city. 

Food shortages 

"Aleppo is now 100-percent besieged," said a rebel from the Aleppo Revolutionaries group.

The army was setting up sandbag barriers along the road, he told AFP.

Sieges by both the regime and its opponents have had a devastating impact on other areas of Syria, including the town of Madaya where aid groups say dozens of people have died from starvation and malnutrition.

The UN says nearly 600,000 people are living under siege in Syria, most of them surrounded by government forces.

Eastern Aleppo has not been designated by the UN as besieged, but residents complain of food shortages and shopkeepers have begun rationing their products.

The Syria Campaign's Sadri blamed the Syrian government and its ally Russia for Aleppo's predicament.

"Hundreds of thousands of civilians are being trapped, starved and barrel bombed in Aleppo by Assad forces with help from Russia," he said.

"The ongoing silence from the rest of the world means more death and destruction in those communities who rose up more than five years ago wanting their freedom and dignity."

Fighters loyal to President Bashar Assad have tried over the past two years to cut Castello Road as part of a campaign to retake all of Aleppo.

They pressed their campaign last week despite announcing several extensions to a fighting freeze marking Eid Al Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. 

State media made no mention of Sunday's developments, but pro-government websites reported the advance.

AFP's correspondent in one rebel-controlled neighbourhood said at least six air strikes targeted the eastern opposition neighbourhoods after the route was severed.

Salvaging the truce 

Aleppo was once Syria’s commercial powerhouse but has been ravaged by fighting since mid-2012, with several temporary truces failing to end the violence there.

On Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said they had agreed on “concrete steps” to salvage the failing nationwide ceasefire but would not give details.

Russia has demanded that moderate rebel groups — particularly those in and around Aleppo — disassociate themselves from Al Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra Front in order to avoid being targeted in air raids.

More than 280,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced to flee their homes since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011. 

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura has urged Russia and the United States to push for a resumption of peace talks next month.