Aleppo: Syrian forces launched new air strikes and shelled rebel strongholds in several key cities today, a watchdog said, after the UN named a new envoy to try to end the conflict. The intensified fighting, particularly in and around the key northern hub of Aleppo, has sent thousands more Syrians fleeing into neighbouring countries as the divided international community appears powerless to act.
The United Nations said on Friday that veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi would take over as international envoy from Kofi Annan, who quit this month after the failure of his peace plan. And Brahimi admitted he was not confident he would be able to end the 17-month-old conflict, which activists say has killed 23,000 people, while the UN puts the toll at 17,000. “I might very well fail but we sometimes are lucky and we can get a breakthrough,” the 78-year-old told the BBC. “We have got to try. We have got to see that the Syrian people are not abandoned”.
His appointment was announced the day after the UN called time on its observer mission in Syria. UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on the international community to give the new envoy “strong, clear and unified” support, after Annan complained his mission had been hamstrung by the deep rift on the UN Security Council between the West and traditional Damascus allies Beijing and Moscow.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Brahimi, saying the world community was committed to bringing about change in Syria and “ensuring that those who commit atrocities will be identified and held accountable”.
China, which along with Moscow has vetoed Security Council resolutions on Syria and has accused the West of hampering efforts to end the crisis, also vowed to cooperate with Brahimi in the search for a political solution.
On the ground, warplanes bombed the town of Aazaz on Friday, just days after an air strike that flattened homes and killed at least 40 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian forces also bombarded several areas of Aleppo, the northern commercial hub that has emerged as the main battleground as it is key for control of routes to Turkey — the rear base for the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Fighting was reported in several districts of the city, the Observatory said, while regime forces also pounded rebel areas of the central city of Homs and the southern city of Herak. It said a total of 129 people were killed in violence on Friday alone. (AFP)