PHOTO: Damage in Aleppo after a pro-Assad strike on Thursday

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The UN has called for temporary ceasefires to allow aid into opposition-held areas of Aleppo city, as up to 400,000 face “the brink of starvation” because of a siege by pro-Assad forces.

“Humanitarian convoys are ready, humanitarian workers are ready. We have the supplies. We need a break in the fighting,” said Jan Egeland, head of the UN humanitarian operations for Syria.

The Syrian military and foreign militias, enabled by Russian airstrikes, established fire control over the last route into the opposition areas on July 7 after they advanced north of Aleppo.

Opposition council members say prices have risen sharply, doubling or even tripling for food, fuel, and essential items. The council is rationing supplies and calling on merchants not to take advantage of the situation with exorbitant charges.

Egeland urged the US and Russia to press the Assad regime to “give us 48 hours every week to be able to go to eastern Aleppo”.

“The clock is ticking,” he said.

The Red Cross added on Friday that attacks in recent days have caused “untold numbers” of civilian casualties. It said water systems, hospitals, warehouses, ambulance stations, public buildings, and civilian homes have been destroyed or damaged.

Russia and the Assad regime have stepped up bombing throughout northwest Syria since mid-April. On Thursday, scores of civilians were killed in Aleppo and Idlib Provinces, and the assault continued yesterday with another 66 confirmed deaths.

See Syria Daily, July 22: 105 Killed on Thursday Amid Russian-Regime Bombing

Civil defense volunteers rescue a family of five after shelling in Idlib Province early Friday:

Claimed footage of damage to the Hijaz mosque in Idlib city from Russian bombing:

A reminder of the Russian-regime bombing beyond the northwest — injured children in a field hospital in Douma, near Damascus:

Surgeon Appeals to Obama

Samar Attar, a surgeon from Chicago who recently returned from opposition-held Aleppo, has published an appeal to President Obama via The Washington Post:

The hospital where I worked has been attacked so many times by airstrikes that it has been driven literally underground — with a ramp leading into the basement. Scalpels are dull, anesthesia is a luxury, sterility is an approximation.

Attar gives a graphic description of the daily suffering — “a child, breathing but silent, with severe burns and his intestines protruding from his belly” — from the Russian and regime attacks:

Slaughter occurs daily. Here, innocent civilians being blinded, amputated, burned, paralyzed, crushed and mutilated by bombs is the routine. Here, the world has shown little solidarity with innocents being massacred. This was not the work of the Islamic State. The terrorism I saw in Aleppo came from helicopters and jets in the sky.

He concludes with his appeal:

I plead with the Obama administration to act. It must boldly confront Russia to halt the bombardment of Aleppo and Castello Road, the only humanitarian supply line to hundreds of thousands of people in eastern Aleppo. It must pressure and threaten the Syrian government to do the same. It must enforce a no-fly zone, using coalition air power already in place and in force against the Islamic State.

UN Envoy Repeats Call for Talks in August

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, sidelined since political talks broke down in April, has again called for a renewal of negotiations next month

“We are determined to actually look for a proper date in August for relaunching the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva,” de Mistura told reporters before a meeting with German Foreign Minister Franz-Walter Steinmeier.

The envoy praised talks between US Secretary Of State John Kerry and Russian officials, saying they had agreed some “concrete steps” which could be helpful.

He said the US-Russian discussions could help the warring parties take “credible, real steps in the direction of political transition”.

Kerry said on Friday that he will Lavrov in coming days to continue discussions of an American proposal for military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

The Secretary of State indicated detailed talks were more likely to take place on the sidelines of a gathering of Southeast Asian nations in Laos on Monday and Tuesday.

Last week, Kerry took the US proposal for a joint command-and-control center to Moscow, discussing it with President Putin and Lavrov.

See Syria Analysis: Kerry Sells Out to Russia Over Assad

The last set of indirect talks between the Assad regime and the opposition-rebel bloc was held in Geneva between January and April. They made no progress, as President Assad rejected any transitional governing authority and the regime continued its bombing and sieges.

Regime Bombs Offices of Leading Monitor of Casualties

Regime warplanes have bombed the offices of one of the leading monitors of killings and abuses in the Syrian conflict.

The Violations Documentation Center said its offices in the East Ghouta area, near Damascus, were struck by two missiles on Friday afternoon.

The attack came during sustained bombing of the town of Douma for the past week. Nine people were killed on Thursday, while 12 raids on Friday killed four and injured 70.

The VDC has been the most reliable monitor of casualties, documenting — by name, location, and cause of death — almost 138,000 of those who have been slain since March 2011.

Rebels Claim Destruction of Regime Barrel-Bombing Helicopter in Aleppo

The Fatah Halab rebel operations room says that a regime helicopter, loaded with barrel bombs, was destroyed on Friday at the Nayrab military airport near Aleppo city.

The rebel faction Faylaq al-Sham reportedly struck the helicopter on the runway with a Kornet anti-tank guided missile, setting off the barrel bombs.

The Assad regime has lost several warplanes — and the Russian have lost their first helicopter — to enemy fire near Damascus in the past month, but this is the first reported destruction of a regime warplane in the battles in Aleppo Province.