Air strikes hit Aleppo, Idlib

Syrian warplanes launched strikes in several parts of the country yesterday despite a fragile truce, a monitor said, as Russia confirmed a January 23 date for new peace talks.

The negotiations, to be held in the Kazakh capital Astana, are intended to build on a ceasefire in effect since late December, brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

The truce has brought quiet to large parts of the country, but has been threatened by continuing violence, particularly near the capital Damascus.

Overnight and into yesterday, government warplanes hit opposition areas in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, as well as the Eastern Ghouta region near the capital, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The overnight strikes in Idlib, in the northwest of the country, targeted positions belonging to former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, which is not party to the ceasefire, the Observatory said.

The strikes on the town of Taftanaz killed three rebels from an Islamist group allied to the jihadists, the Britain-based monitor said.

An AFP correspondent in the town saw a building that had totally collapsed in the attack. The White Helmets, a rescue service operating in rebel areas, spent hours clearing debris with picks and hammers.

Yesterday morning, government air strikes also hit Eastern Ghouta, the Observatory said.

The Observatory also reported clashes and air strikes in the Wadi Barada region, which has seen some of the most serious violence since the truce went into effect on December 30.

A Syrian provincial governor said yesterday the government and rebels had agreed on a plan to repair damage to a spring in the Wadi Barada area in Damascus that supplies water to the capital, state television reported.

The spring was knocked out of service in late December, reducing water supplies to the 70 percent of residents of Damascus and surrounding areas that it serves.