Syria's Aleppo has emerged as focus in the long-running Syria crisis, as it's an arena for wrestling for rival forces that would determine the future of the Syria, observers said.
The battles' heat is scorching Syria's northern city of Aleppo with the prospects so dim as a result of the widening gap between the conflicting parties as well as the ideas for defusing the tension.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday he discussed Ukraine and "all aspects" of Aleppo including renewed bombing in the Syrian city this week in a meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russia will continue to help Syria combat international terrorism, said Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian president's special representative for the Middle East and Africa.
US-backed forces pressed offensives Wednesday on the Islamic State group's strongholds in Syria and Iraq, as an air strike by the American-led coalition reportedly killed 20 civilians near the Syrian city of Raqa.
Russia denied any involvement in deadly air strikes on a Syrian school and rejected a UN-led investigation showing its ally Damascus had carried out chemical attacks, as Moscow's relations with the West took another hit.
UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi said Monday a total of 50,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan will leave the country and head to other countries.
Talks between foreign ministers from the United States, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iraq came to a close Saturday evening without any of the delegations suggesting that a breakthrough had been reached on how to tackle the Syrian crisis.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Friday that the Syrian army's capture of Aleppo, which has come under renewed bombardment in an effort to seize its rebel-held sector, would be "a very important springboard" to pushing "terrorists" back to Turkey.
The current situation in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo has become "unacceptable", foreign ministers of Italy, France, and Germany said after holding talks here on Wednesday.
The U.S. decision to suspend talks with Russia over restoring a ceasefire in Syria will further escalate the situation in the war-torn country and thus prolong the crisis, analysts say.
A senior Iranian official warned the United States against any direct military intervention against the Syrian army, Press TV reported on Monday.
Russia is sending more warplanes to Syria to ramp up its air campaign, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday, as the United States said diplomacy to halt the violence was "on life support" but not dead yet.
Syria's Aleppo faced worsening food and medical shortages on Monday and warplanes again pounded the city as Russia condemned what it called "unacceptable" Western rhetoric after allegations of war crimes.
The U.S.-led airstrike on Syrian military positions in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour was one of the main reasons behind the faltering efforts to resume a recently-established ceasefire, political analysts said.
Syrian or Russian aircraft struck an aid convoy near Aleppo on Monday and killed 12 people, according to a war monitor, as the Syrian military declared a one-week truce brokered by the United States and Russia over.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Saturday evening on Syria after the U.S.-led coalition staged airstrikes on Syrian military positions, diplomatic sources told Xinhua.
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