Syrian army encircles Aleppo as ceasefire talks fade

The government attack north of Aleppo that began in recent days is its first major offensive there since Russian air strikes began on 30th September.

Rebels described the assault as the most intense yet. One commander said,“Opposition-held areas of Syria's largest city were at risk of being encircled entirely by the government and allied militia,”in an appeal to foreign states that back the rebels to send more weapons.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Moscow to stop the bombing during the peace process.The refugee crisis and spread of Daesh through large areas of Syria, and from there to Iraq, had injected a new urgency to resolve the five-year-old Syria war.

"We are beginning the talks, we are at the table and we expect a ceasefire," he said after a meeting in Rome.

The area around Aleppo safeguards a rebel supply route from Turkey into opposition-held parts of the city and stands between government-held parts of western Aleppo and the Shia villages of Nubul and al-Zahraa, which are loyal to Damascus.

"If there is no support, the regime could besiege the city of Aleppo and cut the road to the north," said Abu Yasine, whose group is one of the rebel movements that have received military support from states opposed to President Bashar al-Assad, funnelled via Turkey.

“Advancing government forces seized the village of Hardatnin which is about 10km northwest of Aleppo,”said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring body.

"We sent new fighters this morning, we sent heavier equipment there. It seems it will be a decisive battle in the north, God willing," said Ahmed al-Seoud, head of a Free Syrian Army group known as Division 13.

The Russian intervention has reversed the course of the war for Damascus, which suffered a series of major defeats to rebels in western Syria last year before Moscow deployed its air force as part of an alliance with Iran.