At least 18 people were killed Friday when airstrikes hit several rebel-held neighborhoods in Syria's contested northern city of Aleppo, anti-government activists said, an escalation that placed added strain on a fragile cease-fire.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial center, has seen sporadic clashes since the cease-fire took effect in late February, as government troops have advanced, boxing in opposition-held areas from all sides except for a corridor from the northwestern edge of the city.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 19 people were killed in the airstrikes in Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood and other parts of the city controlled by rebels. The Observatory described the series of airstrikes as the most intense on the city since the cease-fire began. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist-operated media outlet, said at least 18 people were killed in today's airstrikes.
The February cease-fire has been teetering amid rising violence. UN-brokered talks in Geneva to resolve the Syria conflict have been bogged down after the Saudi-backed opposition delegation suspended its participation and the warring sides traded accusations.
The High Negotiations Committee, which represents most of the opposition at the UN-brokered talks, accuses the government of repeatedly violating the US and Russian-brokered cease-fire, illegally detaining thousands of people and blocking humanitarian aid access.
France's foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, warned that the negotiations over Syria's political future have entered a "danger zone."
Speaking with reporters in Paris, he said that humanitarian access to besieged areas "must be total" and that there have been "too many fetters."
The Syrian government's envoy to peace talks in Geneva, Bashar Ja'afari, defended his government's record on humanitarian aid, lashing out at the opposition for shedding "crocodile tears" about alleged humanitarian aid lapses.
Ja'afari spoke to reporters at UN offices in Geneva where indirect peace talks and other meetings on Syria's crisis have been held in recent months. He said his delegation will meet with UN mediator Staffan de Mistura again on Monday.
