Syria: Aleppo

Aleppo: Moscow also said on Tuesday that the Syrian government would show up at a new round of peace talks next week, in a bid to allay Western concerns over Assad's commitment to negotiations which ended inconclusively in Geneva last week. , according to CBC. While the fall of Aleppo is not seen as imminent, Assad is keen to control it, together with the capital Damascus and his heartland along the coast. But the rest of the country remains fragmented between rebel, Kurds and other armed groups. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov listens during a meeting with Syrian opposition leader Ahmad Jarba in Moscow on Tuesday. Maxim Shemetov/Reuters Russia said its ally Syria would soon ship more chemical weapons abroad for destruction after being accused of dragging its feet, while activists said civilians in Aleppo were fleeing deadly barrel bomb raids by President Bashar al-Assad's air force. The diplomatic assurances come as government forces escalate their assault on Syria's second city of Aleppo, using a near daily barrage of barrel bombs that some activists say is forcing residents to flee and slowly gaining ground for the president against rebel forces weakened by weeks of infighting. Syria's civil war: key facts, important players Syria's growing refugee crisis Syria's civil war spawns deadly barrel bombs (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.