BEIRUT —  In another setback to international efforts to resolve Syria’s devastating civil war, peace talks are not to resume next week, a U.N. envoy announced as Turkey on Friday intensified cross-border artillery shelling on areas dominated by Syria’s U.S.-backed, mostly Kurdish militia.
Meanwhile, Russia called for an urgent Security Council meeting over the deteriorating border situation. A statement posted on the Russian foreign ministry’s website said it intends to submit a draft council resolution calling on Turkey to “cease any actions that undermine Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
In comments to Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, said the Syria talks won’t resume in Geneva on Feb. 25 as he had previously hoped. He said that he cannot “realistically” get the parties in the Syrian conflict back to the table by then, “but we intend to do so soon.”
Fighting has fighting intensified in Syria over the past weeks and a deadline to cease military activities was not observed. The United States, Russia and other world powers agreed Feb. 12 on a deal calling for the ceasing of hostilities within a week, the delivery of urgently needed aid to besieged areas of Syria and a return to peace talks in Geneva.
In an interview published late Thursday on the Swedish daily’s website, de Mistura said, “We need real talks about peace, not just talks about talks. Now the Americans and Russians must sit down and agree on a concrete plan on the cessation of hostilities.”
The International Committee of the Red Cross expressed deep alarm, over the situation Aleppo where intensified fighting has forced 70,000 people to flee their homes and left many without water or electricity.
ICRC said in a statement Friday that two hospitals hit earlier this week in Aleppo left them out of service. The clinics had provided thousands of consultations, surgeries and delivered hundreds of babies per month. The Red Cross also said the remaining hospitals that work in the area are struggling to function.
Earlier Friday, a rebel commander in the northwestern province of Idlib said Turkey was facilitating the movement of other rebel factions. The commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to reveal military secrets, said a mixed coalition of rebel fighters were permitted to pass into Turkey and enter Syria again in order to prevent the city of Azaz from falling into SDF hands.
Azaz is currently held by Turkish-backed rebel factions and is surrounded by both SDF forces and Islamic State group fighters.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the shelling on areas on northern Syria lasted seven hours, killing two and wounding several people.

Source: ABC News/ ASSOCIATED PRESS , February 19, 2016