Assad's forces advance in Aleppo amid crushing bombardment

The Syrian army and allied militia seized ground north of Aleppo on Saturday, tightening a siege of the city's rebel-held east as it suffered intense aerial bombardment in a major Russian-backed offensive that EU officials said "breached international law," sparking an urgent call for a meeting of the UN Security Council.

The capture of the Handarat camp a few kilometres north of Aleppo marked the first major ground advance of the offensive, which the government announced on Thursday.

The head of the rebel negotiating bloc, Riyadh Hijab, accused Russia of a "genocide" in and around Aleppo, where Al Jazeera said at least 70 people were killed in bombardment on Saturday.

The attacks on civilians amount to a "breach of international humanitarian law," top EU officials said on Saturday, urging the international community to intensify peace efforts.

"The indiscriminate suffering being caused among innocent civilians... is an unacceptable breach of international humanitarian law," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and humanitarian commissioner Christos Stylianides said in a statement.

Britain, France and the US late Saturday requested an urgent UNSC meeting on the escalating campaign, diplomats said.

The meeting was likely to be held at 10 am (1400 GMT) on Sunday, the diplomats said.

Residents of the rebel-held half of Aleppo city say warplanes have unleashed unprecedented firepower.

Doctors at one of the last functioning hospitals said they were being forced to carry out swift amputations just to keep survivors alive.

"This morning alone we had 60 wounded come in," said Ahmed, a doctor who asked not to be fully identified out of fear for his life and for the hospital under persistent bombing and air strikes since a new offensive was unleashed on Thursday.

"We're carrying out a large number of amputations just so they survive because otherwise we don't have the means to treat them," he said.

"Many of the wounded are dying before our eyes, we're helpless," added the doctor, circled by men and children stretched out in pain on the floor.

Saturday's capture of the Handarat was a major breakthrough for Assad's forces. The camp for Palestinian refugees lies on elevated ground overlooking one of the main roads into Aleppo and had been in rebel hands for years.

"Handarat has fallen," an official with one of the main Aleppo rebel groups told Reuters. An army statement confirming the advance said "large numbers of terrorists" had been killed.

Dozens of people have been reported killed in eastern Aleppo since the army announced the new offensive late on Thursday, burying any remaining hope for reviving a ceasefire that was brokered by the United States and Russia but which Moscow and its ally, President Bashar al-Assad, abandoned after a week.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was left pleading this week with Russia to halt air strikes, but he was ignored.

The collapse of peacemaking and Assad's decision to launch an all-out assault on the last big urban area still in rebel hands appear to mark a turning point in a conflict that was stalemated for years. Assad and his allies seem more determined than ever to crush the nearly six-year-old rebellion by force.

Residents say air strikes on eastern Aleppo have been more intense than ever, using more powerful bombs. Rebel officials said heavy air strikes on Saturday hit at least four areas of the opposition-held east, and they believe the strikes are mostly being carried out by Russian warplanes. Video of the blast sites show craters several metres wide and deep.

Western countries and international aid organisations say they fear for the lives of more than 250,000 civilians believed to be trapped in the rebel-held zone of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city, which for years has been divided into opposition and government sectors. The army says it is targeting only militants.

"There are planes in the sky now," Ammar al-Selmo, the head of the Civil Defence rescue service in the opposition-held east, told Reuters from Aleppo on Saturday morning.

The group draws on ambulance workers and volunteers who dig survivors and dead bodies out of the rubble, often with their bare hands. It says several of its own headquarters have been targeted. "Our teams are responding but are not enough to cover this amount of catastrophe."

Dramatic video footage captured by MEE contributor Bilal Abdul Kareem, who is active on the ground in Aleppo, captured an air strike falling just behind a civil defence base in the city on Saturday.

The US-Russian ceasefire deal finally faltered amid the destruction of a UN aid convoy in the village of Urem Kubra, just outside Aleppo, with the loss of 20 lives and the destruction of enough food to feed 78,000 people.

On Friday, the UN said it was trying to find alternative routes through to Aleppo, but the intense bombing made it difficult. Russian and American diplomats have so far failed to reach any agreement to end the violence.

Asked on Thursday whether the truce could be reinstated, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov simply said: "You should ask the Americans."

On Friday, Kerry said there was "a little progress" on halting the violence in talks with Lavrov. 

"I met with the foreign minister, we exchanged some ideas, and we had a little bit of progress. We're evaluating some mutual ideas in a constructive way," Kerry said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

However, at a news briefing a short time later, Lavrov made no mention of progress. Instead, he accused the US of failing to honour the 9 September ceasfire agreement.

In Urem Kubra, residents remain in disbelief at the political squabbling over who carried out the attack on the aid convoy. The Americans blame the Russians, the Russian deny any part in the attack, Assad continues to blame "terrorists". Photographic evidence shows the remains of a Russian-made bomb among the skeletons of UN vehicles and the roads pockmarked by craters.

Mohammed, a resident of Urem Kubra, told Middle East Eye: "I was about a kilometre, or even less, from the site of the bombing. It was a total shock. Everyone knew that it was full of food aid. There are about 20,000 people in the area who are suffering from a lack of food. 

"The regime and Russia have not changed their tactics a bit by bombing a humanitarian aid convoy. They won't admit responsibility, of course. The scary thing is the reaction of the West and the US. Everyone pretended they didn't know who had bombed the convoy and said it might have been bombed by militants. 

"Even the regime pretended the destruction had been caused by militants, when this kind of thing can't happen except as a result of air strikes. This was confirmed by multiple witnesses. But they [the government] want to sell this idea that they don't know who did it, and unfortunately they have succeeded.

"Nobody has done anything. The US and Russia are just trading accusations."

In a recent interview, Assad presented his reality in Aleppo: it was not besieged, its people were not suffering and they had everything they needed. The Syrian army could not prevent food getting in, just as it could not prevent rebels getting their hands on armaments. It is a reality that is contradicted by photographs, video and witness accounts.

Ismail Barakat, whose relative was killed in the Monday attack, had this to say: "The people in rebel-held areas have nothing to do but wait to find out when they will be bombed. 

"It's a genocidal campaign. Assad is doing this in front of the whole world, and nobody is doing anything. He justifies killing women and children and destroying medical facilities with just three words: stamping out terrorism."

His rage was not reserved for the government.

"We expected more from the international community," he said. "But I'm not surprised - everybody is complicit in this crime. The pictures coming out of eastern Aleppo every day are the greatest evidence of this."

New weapons from allies

Syrian rebels expect to receive new types of heavy weapons from their foreign backers in response to the collapse of a truce and a Russian-backed government offensive but nothing amounting to a major shift in support, a rebel leader said on Saturday.

Colonel Fares al-Bayoush, head of the Northern Division group, told Reuters he expected rebels to get new types of Russian-made rocket launchers and artillery, but there was no sign of foreign states agreeing to the rebels' long-held demand for anti-aircraft missiles. Any increase would be "slight".

While Bayoush indicated rebel capabilities could be enhanced to a degree, he said a more significant shift would be in their tactics, though he gave no details.

States opposed to Assad, such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States, have been channelling military support to some rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army for several years. In some cases this has included US-made anti-tank, or TOW, missiles.

The rebels have long complained, however, that foreign support has been inadequate to confront Damascus effectively.

Speaking to Reuters from Syria, Bayoush said "there are indications and promises" of more weapons, though he only expected "a slight increase". He expected the delivery of more "heavy weapons, such as rocket launchers and artillery".

"I expect new types of Russian-made weapons, in addition to more of the previously [supplied] types," he added via an internet-based messaging system.

"What is expected is an increase in the pace of the battles, so that they are organised in a different way - a change in tactics," he said.

Additional reporting by Zouhir al-Shimale in Aleppo