France’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday a Syrian government offensive in the Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta regions threatened a truce agreement and could lead to the collapse of intra-Syrian peace talks.
“France expresses its concern regarding the restart of the violence seen in the last few days,” spokesman Romain Nadal told reporters in a daily briefing.
“It warns that the impact of the regime and its allies’ offensives around Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta are a threat to the cessation of hostilities,” he said.
He added that the government and its backers would be “responsible for a new humanitarian crisis and the failure of intra-Syrian negotiations” that are due to restart on Wednesday
U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner also says the United States is concerned with escalating violence in Syria ahead of peace talks planned for Wednesday.
Mark Toner said “We are very, very concerned about the recent increase in violence, and that includes actions we believe are in contravention to the cessation of hostilities. And Secretary Kerry, in fact, expressed this concern to Foreign Minister Lavrov and also discussed how to make certain in the next days that every extra effort is made in order to sustain and solidify the cessation of hostilities.”
UN mediator Staffan de Mistura has called the new round of Syrian peace talks opening in Geneva on Wednesday crucial and said delegations would focus on political transition, governance and constitutional principles. He also expressed hope that this round, the third this year, would be “constructive” and “concrete”.
The Saudi-supported opposition Higher Negotiations Committee (HNC) has submitted proposals on all three topics to de Mistura, while the Syrian government has put forward “principles” on which a deal could be founded.
These UN-brokered “proximity talks” began in late January, were suspended on the brink of collapse after three days and then resumed for 10 days in March. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since February 27th.

A Russian military helicopter lands at the Hmeimim air base in Latakia province, northwest Syria

A Russian attack helicopter has crashed in Syria killing both pilots, Russia’s defence ministry says. The crash is the third aircraft Russia has acknowledged losing in Syria. Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi-24 bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on November 24 and a helicopter sent to rescue the pilots was then destroyed by rebels after landing.
The ministry said the Mi-28N Night Hunter helicopter, which crashed in Homs province in the early hours of Tuesday morning, had not been shot down, but the cause of the incident was unclear.
“A group of specialists is working at the crash site to investigate the incident,” the ministry said in a statement.
The pilots’ bodies had been recovered and brought back to Russia’s air base in Hmeymim in Latakia province, it said.

Source: News Agencies, April 12