Patriot Update

Envoy Kofi Annan’s Resignation Signals That Battle Will Move Fully to Streets; Government Sending Troops to Aleppo

Kofi Annan’s resignation as the international envoy to Syria appeared to mark the demise of diplomatic efforts to end the country’s conflict, persuading many around the world that the struggle for power will be settled in the streets.

In Damascus, Syria’s capital, government forces renewed bombing in several districts where regime and rebel forces fought fiercely last week.

Rebel-controlled neighborhoods in Aleppo, where the government and opposition fighters have been battling for nearly two weeks, came under helicopter bombardment and shelling, fighters and activists said. Telephone lines and Internet connections were cut throughout most of Aleppo the previous night, they said, amid reports that the government was sending reinforcements into the city, Syria’s most populous.