Iran Seeks Diplomatic Solution in Syria

Iran called for a diplomatic solution to the conflicts in Syria and Yemen on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

In a visit to Lebanon, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said there would be no winner of the wars, with prolonged violence simply causing more deaths. Iran is the primary backer of the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which supports Lebanon’s newly elected president, Michel Aoun. Iran is also a key ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Zarif said that regional powers could help Syria achieve an immediate cease-fire to end the conflict, now in its sixth year. Recent developments in Lebanon, he said, could help break the violent stalemates in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

“We should admit that there is no military solution, neither for the Yemeni crisis nor for the Syrian crisis,” Zarif said. “We believe that continuing to use military methods in order to win the Yemeni and Syrian crises will only lead to more fighting and bloodshed.”

Significant Government Gains in Aleppo, Russia Set to Resume Airstrikes

The Syrian army advanced on Aleppo city on Tuesday night, Reuters reported, as rebels said they would continue to fight.

Syria’s largest city, Aleppo, has been divided into a rebel-controlled east and government-held west since 2012. Besieged by the government since July, rebels launched an offensive last week in an attempt to break the siege on their part of the city.

According to the Syrian army, government and allied forces took control of strategic positions, the 1070 Apartments district, on the southwestern outskirts of Aleppo city on Tuesday night. This is the most significant gain the government has achieved in Aleppo since September, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitoring group. Rebels said their forces will fight back, however, and that clashes for the 1070 Apartments are ongoing.

Russia, a key backer of the Syrian government, said it would resume airstrikes on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city in the “coming hours,” according to the Russian defense ministry. The statement came after Russia said on Monday that it would continue its suspension of airstrikes on Aleppo, announced October 18, unless rebels launched an offensive first.

U.S. Strikes on Raqqa Kill 20

At least 20 civilians were killed in U.S-led coalition airstrikes near Raqqa, according to Agence France-Presse.

The overnight air raids hit the village of al-Heisha, north of the so-called Islamic State’s stronghold of Raqqa. Nine women and two children were killed and another 32 people were wounded, according to SOHR.

Al-Heisha, controlled by the so-called Islamic State, has been targeted by the U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

“There is no such thing, and any such claims are I.S. [ISIS] news,” Jihan Sheikh Ahmed, SDF spokeswoman, told the AFP news agency, dismissing news of the civilian casualties.

The U.S.-led coalition said it was checking reports of the alleged incident.

On Sunday, the SDF announced its plans to take control of the Islamic State’s de-facto capital, Raqqa, which has been under extremist control for almost three years.

More than 600 civilians have been killed so far by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria in the past two years according to human rights and monitoring groups. The coalition has recognized the deaths of only 55 civilians in both Iraq and Syria between August 2014 and July 2016.

Recommended Reads:

• The Associated Press: Syrian Media Activist Wins Reporters Without Borders Award
• The New York Times: What I Saw in Syria
• Heinrich Böll Stiftung: Is Partitioning Syria a Solution?
• The Century Foundation: What It’s Like to Meet Assad in Damascus
• Syria Untold: Widows Struggle to Overcome Poverty and Discrimination