MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military said Tuesday it had beefed up its forces in Syria with state-of-the-art air defense missiles, an announcement that follows Washington’s move to suspend contacts with Russia over Syria.

The deployment immediately raised questions in the Pentagon, which wondered about its purpose.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said a battery of the S-300 air defense missile systems had been sent to Syria to protect a Russian facility in the Syrian port of Tartus and Russian navy ships off the Mediterranean coast. Tartus is the only naval supply facility Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

The deployment adds more punch to the Russian military force in Syria, which already includes long-range S-400 missile defense systems and an array of other surface-to-air missiles at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.

Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad since Sept. 30 2015, saving his army from imminent defeat and helping it win key ground.

The S-300 deployment was announced a day after the U.S. announced it was suspending direct diplomatic contacts with Russia on ending the war in Syria. Washington’s decision followed the collapse of the Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire in Syria and the Syrian army’s onslaught on Aleppo backed by Russian warplanes.

While Washington put diplomatic contacts on hold, it has maintained a military-to-military dialogue intended to prevent incidents in the air between Russian and the U.S-led coalition aircraft over Syria.

Amid the rising U.S.-Russian tensions, the new Russian missile deployment seems intended to send a warning signal to the U.S.

Russia reacted nervously last month when aircraft of the U.S.-led coalition struck Syrian army troops near Deir el-Zour. Damascus said 60 Syrian soldiers died in the air raid. Washington said the strike was launched by mistake, but Moscow has questioned the U.S. explanation.

The S-300, a sophisticated long-range system capable of striking enemy aircraft and cruise missiles up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, could cover other areas in Syria along with Tartus.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook noted that Russia’s declared goal in Syria is to fight extremism, but that the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida branch there don’t have planes that could be targeted by such a system.

“I would question just what the purpose of the system is,” Cook said.

Asked if the system posed a threat to U.S. aircraft or crews, Cook said, “It depends on how the Russians plan to use it.”

He said the United States would continue to ensure the safety of its forces, which have the right to act in self-defense.

Konashenkov sought to down play the deployment, saying “the S-300 is exclusively a defensive system that doesn’t threaten anyone.”

“It’s not quite clear why the deployment of the S-300 in Syria has so worried our Western colleagues,” he said.

In a sharp attack on Washington, Konashenkov also charged that the U.S.-led action against the Islamic State group was merely an “imitation” that has failed to prevent the IS expansion.

Like other Russian officials, he blamed Washington for the collapse of the U.S.-Russian truce in Syria. He attributed the cease-fire’s downfall to the U.S.’s failure to force moderate rebels to break ties with the al-Qaida branch in Syria, which has recently changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

“It’s time for our American partners to publicly recognize that practically all Syrian ‘opposition’ nurtured and controlled by them is an inalienable part of the al-Qaida,” Konashenkov said.

Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.</s>Today the United Nations security council has confirmed the former Portuguese prime minister and occasionally outspoken former head of the UN High Commission for Refugees, António Guterres, as the next UN secretary general – a choice that is likely to reaffirmed by the UN general assembly shortly. Guterres’ elevation follows what has for the United Nations been the most transparent process of nomination and public debate to date, even if recent weeks have been bedevilled by acrimonious briefing and plotting.

This new UN-style glasnost has the advantage of lending Guterres added authority as he prepares to step into Ban Ki-moon’s shoes in December. And despite stealing an early march on most of his opponents in a series of straw polls, the emergence of Guterres still comes as something of a surprise. This was supposed to be eastern Europe’s turn; there had been a strong push to have a woman as UN secretary general for the first time; and the ever present threat of a veto from a permanent member might have meant that the strongest candidates would be blocked.

The optics and choreography of the blessing conferred on Guterres by this month’s president of the security council, Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin, flanked by fellow members, including US ambassador Samantha Power, sends a powerful message. Given that he wasn’t its preferred candidate, Russia might have been expected to veto Guterres. But faced with the withdrawal of Bulgaria’s support for its and Russia’s favoured candidate, the head of Unesco, Irina Bokova, Churkin knew that the game was up.

The Russians were said to be furious that, under EU pressure, Bulgaria had instead tried to opt for the EU finance commissioner, another Bulgarian, Kristalina Georgieva, despite being unable to do so under the rules. But today no one can accuse Russia of saying “nyet” to the most popular candidate for the job, and many now expect that both Russia and China will demand their fair share of senior appointments. Indeed there is already speculation that Bokova will become deputy secretary general. Without giving any special favours, Guterres will need clear ideas about personnel. He will need to improve the efficiency of the organisation while drawing strongly on the ethos and experience of a loyal staff who are able and willing to properly communicate and champion the achievements of the United Nations.

As the world’s secular pope, Guterres inherits the charnel house that is Syria. It will fall to him to take the lead where the security council has so demonstrably failed. He has won plaudits for speaking out strongly in the past over a wave of migration from a wartorn Middle East that is now larger than that which took place at the end of the second world war. He will need to put Syria at the top of his list of priorities.

This may call for a more muscular, hands-on approach. The UN needs to be right, left and centre of the intense shuttle diplomacy that should have the very best diplomats involved at the highest levels in the capital of every country involved. Building on the happy collusion between the United States and Russia over his selection, Guterres will know that a thawing in relations between these two powers offers the best hope for an eventual peace in Syria, tackling Isis and a series of broader issues – from encouraging nuclear non proliferation to calming tensions on the Korean peninsula – as well as the prospects for wider peace in the Middle East.

His predecessor, Ban, has made tackling climate change and the new sustainable development goals very much his signature tune. A good deal of the groundwork has been done but, as the world continues to warm, much of the heavy lifting remains.

Ban often used to say that when he assumed office 10 years ago the biggest conflict in his in-tray was in Darfur, Sudan. But in the period since, wars have intensified and become more protracted. Women and children, hospitals and aid convoys have become targets with an apparent impunity for those carrying out the heinous deeds.

The new secretary general will hopefully use his good offices to encourage the security council to give up its power of veto when war crimes are being committed, as they are today in Aleppo and in Yemen. The UN must be able to act decisively and with properly supported peacekeeping operations.

The new secretary general will of course be the very model of courtesy and good manners with whomever is elected the next president of the United States, the country that hosts the organisation’s imposing headquarters. He will wine and dine him or her in his marvellous eyrie on the 38th floor of UN headquarters, with its panoramic views of the Chrysler tower and Turtle Bay. But there is little doubt that many in the UN will be privately praying for a female US president, even if they haven’t yet managed a female UN secretary general.</s>MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military said Tuesday it had beefed up its forces in Syria with state-of-the-art air defense missiles, an announcement that follows Washington’s move to suspend contacts with Russia over Syria.

The deployment immediately raised questions in the Pentagon, which wondered about its purpose.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said a battery of the S-300 air defense missile systems had been sent to Syria to protect a Russian facility in the Syrian port of Tartus and Russian navy ships off the Mediterranean coast. Tartus is the only naval supply facility Russia has outside the former Soviet Union.

The deployment adds more punch to the Russian military force in Syria, which already includes long-range S-400 missile defense systems and an array of other surface-to-air missiles at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia.

Russia has conducted an air campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad since Sept. 30 2015, saving his army from imminent defeat and helping it win key ground.

The S-300 deployment was announced a day after the U.S. announced it was suspending direct diplomatic contacts with Russia on ending the war in Syria. Washington’s decision followed the collapse of the Russia-U.S.-brokered cease-fire in Syria and the Syrian army’s onslaught on Aleppo backed by Russian warplanes.

While Washington put diplomatic contacts on hold, it has maintained a military-to-military dialogue intended to prevent incidents in the air between Russian and the U.S-led coalition aircraft over Syria.

Amid the rising U.S.-Russian tensions, the new Russian missile deployment seems intended to send a warning signal to the U.S.

Russia reacted nervously last month when aircraft of the U.S.-led coalition struck Syrian army troops near Deir el-Zour. Damascus said 60 Syrian soldiers died in the air raid. Washington said the strike was launched by mistake, but Moscow has questioned the U.S. explanation.

The S-300, a sophisticated long-range system capable of striking enemy aircraft and cruise missiles up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away, could cover other areas in Syria along with Tartus.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook noted that Russia’s declared goal in Syria is to fight extremism, but that the Islamic State group and the al-Qaida branch there don’t have planes that could be targeted by such a system.

“I would question just what the purpose of the system is,” Cook said.

Asked if the system posed a threat to U.S. aircraft or crews, Cook said, “It depends on how the Russians plan to use it.”

He said the United States would continue to ensure the safety of its forces, which have the right to act in self-defense.

Konashenkov sought to down play the deployment, saying “the S-300 is exclusively a defensive system that doesn’t threaten anyone.”

“It’s not quite clear why the deployment of the S-300 in Syria has so worried our Western colleagues,” he said.

In a sharp attack on Washington, Konashenkov also charged that the U.S.-led action against the Islamic State group was merely an “imitation” that has failed to prevent the IS expansion.

Like other Russian officials, he blamed Washington for the collapse of the U.S.-Russian truce in Syria. He attributed the cease-fire’s downfall to the U.S.’s failure to force moderate rebels to break ties with the al-Qaida branch in Syria, which has recently changed its name from Jabhat al-Nusra to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.

“It’s time for our American partners to publicly recognize that practically all Syrian ‘opposition’ nurtured and controlled by them is an inalienable part of the al-Qaida,” Konashenkov said.

Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.</s>Syrian rebels claim to have repelled an army offensive in southern Aleppo as Russian and Syrian warplanes pound residential areas - with other nations fret over rebuilding a peace process the United States broke off this week.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had previously announced that Washington was suspending talks with Moscow due to Russia's role in the offensive, said on Tuesday that peace efforts must carry on.

Turkey, long one of the main foes of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but which has lately repaired its damaged ties with his ally Russia, said it planned to make a proposal to Washington and Moscow to resurrect a ceasefire that collapsed last month.

However, Moscow said it had deployed the advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Syria for the first time to protect its base at Tartous, Russia's only sea base on the Mediterranean.

Elsewhere, there was no sign of peace with potentially the biggest and most decisive battle of the five-and-a-half year war unfolding as pro-government forces sought to drive anti-Assad rebels from their last major urban stronghold.

Assad's government, with Russian air support and Iranian ground forces, launched the assault on Aleppo last month, a week into a ceasefire agreed by Washington and Moscow.

The United States and other Western countries say Moscow and Damascus are guilty of potential war crimes for deliberately targetting civilians, hospitals and aid deliveries to crush the will of more than 250,000 people trapped under siege in Aleppo. The Syrian and Russian governments say they target only militants.

Rebels said they inflicted losses on pro-government fighters after hours of clashes on the fringe of Sheikh Saed district, at the southern edge of the rebel-held eastern half of Aleppo city.

“We repelled their attempt to advance in Sheikh Saed and killed 10 regime fighters and destroyed several vehicles,” said a fighter from the Failaq al-Sham rebel group who gave his name as Abdullah al-Halabi.

Pro-government media said the Syrian army was pressing ahead in a major campaign supported by Iranian-backed militias and Russian air power to take full control of Syria's largest city, divided between rebel and government zones since 2012.

In the 15 days since the collapse of the ceasefire, war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of 293 civilians in besieged east Aleppo as a result of air strikes and shelling, including 20 on Tuesday. It has documented 25 deaths in government-held west Aleppo from rebel shelling during the 15 days.

Opposition sources give higher death tolls in the besieged rebel-held sector, under attack from bombing described as unprecedented in its ferocity. Many hundreds of wounded people have been brought to a handful of functioning hospitals, which are short of supplies and have themselves come under attack.

The collapse of the ceasefire last month left US policy on Syria in tatters and was a personal blow for Kerry, who negotiated the truce over months of intense diplomacy with Moscow despite scepticism in Washington, including from other senior figures in the Barack Obama administration.

Last month Republican Senator John McCain called Mr Kerry “intrepid but deluded” for relying on Moscow.

Mr Kerry suspended talks with Russia on Monday, accusing Moscow of failing to live up to its commitments to halt fighting and assure aid reached besieged communities.

“We are not giving up on the Syrian people and we are not abandoning the pursuit of peace,” Mr Kerry said on Tuesday in a speech in Brussels.

He accused Moscow of turning a blind eye to Syria's use of “barrel bombs” - oil drums packed with explosives - which can kill civilians.

“Where they make a desert, they call it peace,” Mr Kerry said, quoting the Roman historian Tacitus.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Russian news agencies saying Moscow would make efforts to resolve the crisis despite the US suspension of talks.

A spokesman for the Turkish president said Recep Tayyip Erdogan could speak by telephone to Obama and President Vladimir Putin about a proposal to revive the Syrian ceasefire. The spokesman did not give details of the proposal. A German official said US, British, French, German and Italian officials would meet in Berlin on Wednesday to discuss next steps.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said attacks on civilians in Aleppo could amount to crimes against humanity. He suggested countries with a veto at the U.N. Security Council, such as Russia, should be stripped of the power to prevent such serious cases being reported to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Syria's civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and made half the country homeless in the world's worst refugee crisis. Most regional states and many global powers have been drawn into the conflict to support the opposing sides, and amid the fighting the hardline Sunni Muslim group Islamic State seized much of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Washington is bombing Isis but has mostly avoided direct involvement in war elsewhere in Syria, leaving the field open to Russia which joined the conflict a year ago on the side of its longtime ally Assad.

Russia says the only way to fight Isis is to support President Assad. Washington says the Syrian leader has too much blood on his hands and must leave power.

A successful assault on Aleppo would deliver the biggest victory of the war for Assad, and leave his government in control of all the major cities of western Syria where the overwhelming majority of the population lives.

The rebels, armed and funded by foreign powers including Western countries, Arab States and Turkey, are putting up a bitter fight for districts of Aleppo where they have had years to fortify their positions. They also control other territory and have launched advances of their own.

A rebel commander from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki group said the army had opened several fronts simultaneously since the launch of a ground assault in order to stretch rebel forces, and had dropped leaflets from helicopters calling for surrender.

Government forces have pressed southwards since securing Handarat, a camp for Palestinians on the northern edge of Aleppo last Thursday following what rebels called carpet bombing. “They levelled the ground and our people had no choice but to retreat under the bombing of the Russians,” the Zinki commander said.

Rebels still expect the army thrust will slow in residential areas that offer them more cover from air raids.

In the heart of the city, warplanes flying at high altitude hit Bustan al Qasr, Hay al Huluk and Fardous neighbourhoods with reports of casualties, several rebel contacts said. Rebels believe those planes are Russian.

The Russian embassy in Damascus was hit by mortar fire on Monday. Moscow said the shells had been fired from the rebel-held Jobar neighbourhood east of Damascus.</s>BRUSSELS -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Russia on Tuesday for ignoring the Syrian government's use of chlorine gas and barrel bombs against its own citizens, and he left little hope for an early resumption of talks with Russia about a cease-fire.

Speaking in the Belgian capital before the opening of a conference on Afghanistan organized by the European Union, Kerry said the United States would continue efforts to end the fighting in Syria through the United Nations, but that Washington had little hope of persuading Russia to give up its support of the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

President Barack Obama's administration announced Monday that it was suspending bilateral talks with Russia on a cease-fire.

"We acknowledge in sorrow -- and, I have to tell you, outrage -- that Russia has turned a blind eye to Assad's deplorable use of chlorine gas and barrel bombs against his people," Kerry said. "Together, the Syrian regime and Russia have rejected diplomacy, and seem to have chosen instead to continue their pursuit of a military victory over the broken bodies, bombed-out hospitals and traumatized children of a long-suffering land."

Kerry's speech, at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, focused mainly on trans-Atlantic cooperation between the U.S. and the EU. Noting concerns about the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union, Kerry said the United States would remain a strong ally of the U.K. and the EU.

"As much as some of us may wish the U.K. vote had gone the other way, the lesson we must take from this democratic choice is not that we need less Europe or less U.K.," Kerry said. "Rather, we all need more of both."

He added: "The United States will support its friends and allies on both sides of the channel as you work through the tough issues ahead. But we will not be shy about where our interests lie: We need the strongest possible EU, the strongest possible U.K., and a highly integrated, collaborative relationship between them."

Since a cease-fire for Syria brokered by the U.S. and Russia ended Sept. 19, rebel-held neighborhoods where 275,000 people live have been subjected to some of the worst bombardment, by Russian and Syrian warplanes, since fighting began in 2011. Hospitals have been among the hardest-hit targets.

At least 420 people have been killed and more than 1,000 wounded in and around Aleppo since the cease-fire collapsed, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the deaths were in eastern Aleppo, where scores of buildings were demolished by Russian and Syrian airstrikes.

On Tuesday, forces backing Assad pressed their offensive on Aleppo's rebel-held zone from the south, after capturing areas on other fronts in recent days. As reinforcements arrived, including Shiite fighters from Iraq, the strategy appeared to be to retake rebel-held areas bit by bit, backed by Russian air power, rather than risk a potentially costly all-out ground battle.

"The regime is bombing civilians because of its inability to storm Aleppo for years," said opposition activist Abu Firas al-Halaby, adding that talk of the imminent arrival of reinforcements was part of a "psychological war" against the rebels.

The Syrian government is backed in the Aleppo battle by Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Palestinian Quds Brigade and Iraq's Shiite al-Nujaba militia, among others.

An official with the al-Nujaba militia said the group had sent some 4,000 fighters in recent weeks in preparation for a battle to storm Aleppo's eastern neighborhoods. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss military strategy, refused to say when such an attack might take place.

Capt. Abdel-Salam Abdel-Razek of the Nour el-Din el-Zinki rebel group said a wide ground offensive was unlikely because the government can't match the rebels' advanced street fighting.

"I don't expect that. I expect attrition and attempts on more than one front. But I don't see that it has the capacity to carry out a wide offensive on all fronts," Abdel-Razek said. "As a force on the ground, it is mobilizing and it can possibly later, but not now."

Government forces have made some progress on the ground recently, including last week's capture of the Handarat Palestinian refugee camp north of Aleppo and the nearby Kindi Hospital, which overlooks a key intersection of vital roads. Syrian troops also captured the central neighborhood of Farafra after pushing forward from the Old City.

On Tuesday, government forces and their allies attacked the southern rebel-held neighborhood of Sheik Saeed, opening a third front against the rebels.

An Aleppo-based activist, Baraa al-Halaby, said residents now avoid underground shelters, for fear of bunker-busting bombs that penetrate several floors before exploding. Still, he said, government forces will not be able to storm rebel-held neighborhoods of the city.

"Tanks will not be able to advance easily in the streets," said Baraa al-Halaby, adding that the Handarat camp was taken only because it is an open area.

Demonstrating Moscow's commitment to backing Assad, the Russian military said it has beefed up its forces in Syria with state-of-the-art air defense missiles.

The Defense Ministry said Tuesday that a battery of the S-300 air defense missile systems has been deployed to Syria to protect a Russian naval facility in the port of Tartus and Russian navy ships in the area.

Information for this article was contributed by Rod Nordland of The New York Times and by Bassem Mroue, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Sarah El Deeb and Philip Issa of The Associated Press.</s>PARIS/MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - France is to launch a new push for United Nations backing for a ceasefire in Syria that would allow aid into the city of Aleppo after some of the heaviest bombing of the war.

The sun sets over Aleppo as seen from rebel-held part of the city, Syria October 5, 2016. To match Insight MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-ALEPPO REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

As diplomatic efforts resumed, the Syrian military said army commanders had decided to scale back air strikes and shelling in Aleppo to alleviate the humanitarian situation there.

It said civilians in rebel-held eastern Aleppo were being used as human shields and a reduced level of bombardment would allow people to leave for safer areas.

Intense Syrian and Russian bombing of rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo followed the collapse last month of a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington, which backs some rebel groups. The United States broke off talks with Russia on Monday, accusing it of breaking its commitments.

France said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault would travel to Russia and the United States on Thursday and Friday to try to persuade both sides to adopt a Security Council resolution to impose a new truce.

Ayrault has accused Syria, backed by Russia and Iran, of war crimes as part of an “all-out war” on its people. Damascus rejects the accusation, saying it is only fighting terrorists.

Speaking to French television channel LCI, Ayrault said: “If you’re complicit in war crimes then one day you will be held accountable, including legally. I think with the Russians you have to speak the truth and not try to please them.”

The former prime minister said he would also ask Washington to be “more efficient and engaged” and not allow a laissez-faire attitude to take over just because presidential elections were approaching in November.

“ALL THAT’S LEFT”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria by telephone on Wednesday, but no details emerged. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Lavrov would meet Ayrault in Moscow on Thursday.

The two-week-old Russian-backed Syrian government offensive aims to capture eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

Half of the estimated 275,000 Syrians besieged in the rebel-held eastern part of the city want to leave, the United Nations said, with food supplies running short and people driven to burning plastic for fuel.

Mothers were reportedly tying ropes around their stomachs or drinking large amounts of water to reduce the feeling of hunger and prioritise food for their children, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva.

The Security Council began negotiations on Monday on a French and Spanish draft resolution that urges Russia and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Aleppo and to “put an end to all military flights over the city”.

Related Coverage Syrian army warns rebels and families to leave eastern Aleppo

“This trip is in the framework of efforts by France to get a resolution adopted at the U.N. Security Council opening the path for a ceasefire in Aleppo and aid access for populations that need it so much,” the French foreign ministry said.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that Moscow was engaged in discussions on the draft text even if he was not especially enthusiastic about its language.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, urges Russia and the United States “to ensure the immediate implementation of the cessation of hostilities, starting with Aleppo, and, to that effect, to put an end to all military flights over the city.”

The draft also asks U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to propose options for U.N.-supervised monitoring of a truce and threatens to “take further measures” in the event of non-compliance by “any party to the Syrian domestic conflict”.

A senior Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “In the experts’ negotiations they (Russia) have opposed every single dot and comma of the resolution.”

French officials have said that if Moscow were to oppose the resolution they would be ready to put it forward anyway to force Moscow into a veto, underscoring its complicity with the Syrian government.

“It’s all that’s left,” said a French diplomatic source. “We’re not fools. The Russians aren’t going to begin respecting human rights from one day to the next, but it’s all we have to put pressure on them.”

GULF STATES

Ayrault said in the television interview that the situation was unacceptable. “It is deeply shocking and shameful,” he said. “France will not close its eyes and do nothing. It’s cynicism that fools nobody.”

The collapse of the latest Syria ceasefire has heightened the possibility that Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar - backers of Syrian rebels - might arm the opposition with shoulder-fired missiles to defend themselves against Syrian and Russian warplanes, U.S. officials have said.

Qatar’s foreign minister said outside powers need to act fast to protect Syrians because foreign military backing for the government is “changing the equation” of the war.

A United Nations expert said that analysis of satellite imagery of a deadly and disputed attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month showed that it was an air strike.

Some 20 people were killed in the attack on the U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy at Urem Al-Kubra near Aleppo.

The United States blamed two Russian warplanes which it said were in the skies above the area at the time of the incident. Moscow denies this and says the convoy caught fire.

Slideshow (4 Images)

“With our analysis we determined it was an air strike and I think multiple other sources have said that as well,” Lars Bromley, research adviser at UNOSAT, told a news briefing.

In northern Syria, rebels were expecting stiff resistance from Islamic State in their attempt to capture a village that is of great symbolic significance to the jihadists, a rebel commander said.

With Turkish backing, rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner have advanced to within a few kilometres (miles) of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophecy central to the militant group’s ideology.</s>France is to launch a new push for United Nations backing for a ceasefire in Syria that would allow aid into the city of Aleppo after some of the heaviest bombing of the war.

As diplomatic efforts resumed, a Syrian military source said army commanders had decided to scale back air strikes and shelling in Aleppo to alleviate the humanitarian situation there.

The Syrian army command said civilians in rebel-held eastern Aleppo were being used as human shields and a reduced level of bombardment would allow people to leave for safer areas.

France said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault would travel to Russia and the United States on Thursday and Friday to try to persuade both sides to adopt a Security Council resolution to impose a new truce.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, architects of a ceasefire that collapsed last month amid bitter recriminations, discussed Syria by telephone on Wednesday, but no details emerged.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Lavrov would meet Ayrault in Moscow on Thursday.

The French minister’s trip comes after the collapse of a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia last month, which has been followed by intense Syrian and Russian bombing of rebel-held areas of Aleppo. Washington broke off talks with Moscow on Monday, accusing Russia of breaking its commitments.

For the past two weeks, a Russian-backed Syrian government offensive has been under way to capture eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

“This trip is in the framework of efforts by France to get a resolution adopted at the U.N. Security Council opening the path for a ceasefire in Aleppo and aid access for populations that need it so much,” the French foreign ministry said.

The Security Council began negotiations on Monday on a French and Spanish draft resolution that urges Russia and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Aleppo and to “put an end to all military flights over the city”.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that Moscow was engaged in discussions on the draft text even if he was not especially enthusiastic about its language.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, urges Russia and the United States “to ensure the immediate implementation of the cessation of hostilities, starting with Aleppo, and, to that effect, to put an end to all military flights over the city.”

The draft also asks U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to propose options for U.N.-supervised monitoring of a truce and threatens to “take further measures” in the event of non-compliance by “any party to the Syrian domestic conflict”.

A French diplomatic source said: “It’s all that’s left. We’re not fools. The Russians aren’t going to begin respecting human rights from one day to the next, but it’s all we have to put pressure on them.”

The collapse of the latest Syria ceasefire has heightened the possibility that Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar – backers of Syrian rebels – might arm the opposition with shoulder-fired missiles to defend themselves against Syrian and Russian warplanes, U.S. officials have said.

Qatar’s foreign minister said outside powers need to act fast to protect Syrians because foreign military backing for the government is “changing the equation” of the war.

In Aleppo itself, half of the estimated 275,000 Syrians besieged in the rebel-held eastern part of the city want to leave, the United Nations said.

Food supplies are running short and people are driven to burning plastic for fuel. Mothers were reportedly tying ropes around their stomachs or drinking large amounts of water to reduce the feeling of hunger and prioritise food for their children, the United Nations said.

“An assessment conducted in eastern Aleppo city concluded that 50 per cent of the inhabitants expressed willingness to leave if they can,” the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva.

A United Nations expert said that analysis of satellite imagery of a deadly and disputed attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month showed that it was an air strike.

Some 20 people were killed in the attack on the U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy at Urem Al-Kubra near Aleppo.

The United States blamed two Russian warplanes which it said were in the skies above the area at the time of the incident. Moscow denies this and says the convoy caught fire.

“With our analysis we determined it was an air strike and I think multiple other sources have said that as well,” Lars Bromley, research adviser at UNOSAT, told a news briefing.

In northern Syria, rebels were expecting stiff resistance from Islamic State in their attempt to capture a village that is of great symbolic significance to the jihadists, a rebel commander said.

With Turkish backing, rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner have advanced to within a few kilometres (miles) of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophecy central to the militant group’s ideology.</s>(CNN) The Syrian military and its allies have gained control of part of a key neighborhood on Aleppo's front line, pushing into the city's rebel-held east, Syrian state media and a UK-based monitoring group said.

"An army unit in cooperation with the supporting forces carried out a 'swift' operation against the fortified sites of the terrorist organizations in Bustan al-Basha neighborhood in Aleppo city," state-run SANA quoted a military source as saying.

Bustan al-Basha is located on the front line between besieged rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held areas in the center and west of the city. It is the first time the government has made gains in that neighborhood since losing the area to rebels three years ago, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Rebel-held districts in the city had suffered intense aerial bombardment by Syrian and Russian warplanes for more than a week before a lull on Wednesday.

But the UN said Thursday that at least 376 people had been killed in past two weeks, and 1,266 injured.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said these figures were only from medical facilities, and that the real figure would likely be much higher.

He also warned that if attacks continued at the current rate, Aleppo "may be totally destroyed."

"We are talking about the whole city," he said.

"The reality is, the writing on the wall in front of us, if this continues to be the pattern at this rate, unless there is any major game changer that may change the equation, the cruel constant use of military (acts) - bombing, fighting destruction -- in Aleppo will continue. Let's be honest," Mistura said.

Head of the UN-backed humanitarian task force for Syria, Jan Egeland, said the 275,000 people trapped in Aleppo must be added to the list of people living in besieged areas in Syria.

"861,000 Syrians are now besieged, meaning full military encirclement, no humanitarian supplies going in and no freedom of civilians to go in or out," he said.

"It is illegal under international law and is the reality of 861,000 Syrians."

He added that the number had increased by almost 400,000 since February.

The Assad regime has long warned that it will retake the whole of the northern city that has become the epicenter of Syria's devastating five-year civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people remain, and are still in desperate need of aid. The regime already controls some parts of the city, mostly in the west.

Regime forces propped up by Russian airpower have pounded rebel-held eastern Aleppo since it took the area under siege in July, cutting the population off from essential food, medical and fuel supplies.

The military announced it would reduce airstrikes and artillery fire on rebel-controlled areas in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to evacuate safely.

The state-run news agency SANA said the decision to scale back on bombing Aleppo followed "the success of our armed forces in Aleppo" cutting off and destroying all "terrorist supply routes" and "vital terrorist bases."

But this welcome reprieve from the bombing came with a chilling message. "Anyone who does not make use of this available opportunity will meet their inevitable fate," the Ministry of Defense warned Wednesday.

"The General Command of the Armed Forces has accurate information on the locations of the gunmen and their warehouses in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo," a ministry statement said.

Many Aleppo residents have told CNN correspondents who visited earlier this year that they were hesitant to use corridors open for their evacuation, saying they had heard horror stories of people fleeing other cities through corridors and never being seen again.

An aid convoy and warehouse that was finally allowed into Aleppo after a days-long ceasefire was attacked in September, in which around 20 civilians were killed, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

France said Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault would travel to Moscow Thursday and Washington DC Friday to discuss the situation in Syria. Frace has been advocating a UN Security Council resolution for a ceasefire in Aleppo and access for people to humanitarian aid.

Ayrault and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov are expected to make a statement later today.

The United States said soon after the aid convoy attack that it had reached a preliminary conclusion that Russian warplanes had bombed the convoy and warehouse. Russia and Syria denied any involvement in the attack, which was described only as a "strike" at the time.

The Cold War enemy states have essentially pitted themselves against each other in Syria, with Russia considering all groups fighting the regime terrorists, while the US has armed and trained some of those same groups.</s>United Nations – The UN Security Council began negotiations on Monday on a draft resolution seeking an immediate truce in Aleppo and calling for an end to all military flights over the Syrian city, where over a quarter million people in rebel-held areas are besieged by Syrian forces.

But Russia immediately rejected any grounding of aircraft and questioned whether a resolution at this time would actually produce any results.

The resolution drafted by France and Spain threatens “further measures” — diplomatic code for sanctions — should any party fail to comply with the truce, and it asks for a new UN-supervised truce monitor.

“We consider that this is our responsibility to do absolutely everything we can do, everything humanly possible to unite the Security Council behind our efforts to end the martyrdom in Aleppo,” France’s UN Ambassador Francois Delattre said before Monday’s meeting.

Russia intervened on behalf of its close ally Syria on September 30 last year, joining President Bashar Assad’s bombardment of both anti-government rebel groups and militant groups such as the Islamic State and the Fatah al-Sham Front, an al-Qaeda spinoff formerly known as the Nusra Front.

With Russia’s backing, Syrian forces have encircled the eastern half of Aleppo where continued attacks have repeatedly damaged medical facilities in violation of international law.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, whose country holds the rotating Security Council presidency this month, defended Russia’s military actions in Syria in the wake of bombings of hospitals and an aid convoy, saying Russia never deliberately targeted civilians.

“Had it not been for our involvement in Syria it might well be that the black flags will be flying over Damascus — it could well be,” Churkin said, referring to the flag of the Islamic State group.

Churkin said his country had concerns about the French resolution’s workability.

Rebel-held eastern Aleppo “has been taken hostage by Nusra and some others who are working with Nusra,” he said.

“The primary goal of Russia in that part of the world, in Syria and Iraq, is to throw out the terrorists. As long as the terrorists are there, there will be no peace and quiet for the civilians, in eastern Aleppo or anywhere else.”

Churkin said Russia is “a little bit baffled” that France called for a new monitoring mechanism for the ceasefire when there is already one in Geneva “which has been there for a long time and frankly has not been used very effectively”.

Russia, which is one of five veto-holding permanent members of the Security Council, has blocked a number of resolutions on Syria.

Churkin told a news conference that France said it wants united council support and doesn’t want to see a Russian veto.

“If they were sincere, we can have a resolution, I suppose, which would be more balanced,” Churkin said, but he said he wasn’t sure that many council members would like to see a resolution “that has no chance of working”.

Human Rights Watch called on the Security Council to demand that Syria and Russia immediately halt attacks in eastern Aleppo and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the several hundred thousand people trapped there.

“The Security Council should immediately adopt a resolution demanding an end to the slaughter. And Russia, itself involved in the bombing, should refrain from using its veto or risk further sullying its record as a permanent member of the council,” Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. — AP.</s>(CNN) France has submitted a draft resolution to the UN Security Council for an end to hostilities in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Thursday.

In a joint press conference in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, Ayrault said the "situation is grave and serious" in the city. Regime forces took a key part of the rebel-held east on Thursday after weeks of bombardment.

Lavrov said Russia was "ready to work on this text" as long as it doesn't contradict any other UN resolutions or US-Russia ceasefire agreements.

The announcement comes as the Syrian military continues its push into rebel-held eastern Aleppo, on Thursday gaining control of part of a key neighborhood on the front line, Syrian state media and a UK-based monitoring group said.

The UN says 275,000 people trapped in Aleppo must be added to the list of people living in besieged areas in Syria.

Bustan al-Basha is located on the front line between besieged rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held areas in the center and west of the city. It is the first time the government has made gains in that neighborhood since losing the area to rebels three years ago, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

The Assad regime has long warned that it will retake the whole of the northern city that has become the epicenter of Syria's devastating five-year civil war. Hundreds of thousands of people remain, and are still in desperate need of aid. The regime already controls some parts of the city, mostly in the west.

UN says Aleppo may be 'totally destroyed'

Rebel-held districts in the city had suffered intense aerial bombardment by Syrian and Russian warplanes for more than a week before a lull on Wednesday.

But the UN said Thursday that at least 376 people had been killed in past two weeks, and 1,266 injured.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said these figures were only from medical facilities, and that the real figure would likely be much higher.

He also warned that if attacks continued at the current rate, Aleppo "may be totally destroyed" in the next couple of months.

"We are talking about the whole city," he said.

"The reality is, the writing on the wall in front of us, if this continues to be the pattern at this rate, unless there is any major game changer that may change the equation, the cruel constant use of military (acts) - bombing, fighting destruction -- in Aleppo will continue. Let's be honest," Mistura said.

Head of the UN-backed humanitarian task force for Syria, Jan Egeland, said the 275,000 people trapped in Aleppo must be added to the list of people living in besieged areas in Syria.

"861,000 Syrians are now besieged, meaning full military encirclement, no humanitarian supplies going in and no freedom of civilians to go in or out," he said.

"It is illegal under international law and is the reality of 861,000 Syrians."

He added that the number had increased by almost 400,000 since February.

Regime forces propped up by Russian airpower have pounded rebel-held eastern Aleppo since it took the area under siege in July, cutting the population off from essential food, medical and fuel supplies.

The military announced Wednesday it would reduce airstrikes and artillery fire on rebel-controlled areas in eastern Aleppo to allow civilians to evacuate safely.

The state-run news agency SANA said the decision to scale back on bombing Aleppo followed "the success of our armed forces in Aleppo" cutting off and destroying all "terrorist supply routes" and "vital terrorist bases."

But the reprieve from the bombing came with a chilling message. "Anyone who does not make use of this available opportunity will meet their inevitable fate," the Ministry of Defense warned Wednesday.

"The General Command of the Armed Forces has accurate information on the locations of the gunmen and their warehouses in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo," a ministry statement said.

Many Aleppo residents have told CNN correspondents who visited earlier this year that they were hesitant to use corridors open for their evacuation, saying they had heard horror stories of people fleeing other cities through corridors and never being seen again.
France seeks United States and Russian support for a Security Council resolution to impose a new truce that will allow aid into Aleppo, which has experienced two weeks of heavy Syrian and Russian bombing of rebel-held areas.