Damascus aims to secure Syria's border with Turkey and recapture the city of Aleppo with its latest military offensive, a top adviser to President Bashar al-Assad said on Tuesday.
In an interview in her Damascus office, Bouthaina Shaaban held out little hope for diplomatic efforts to end the five-year civil war, telling Reuters proposals for a ceasefire were coming from states that "do not want an end to terrorism" and wanted to shore up insurgents who are losing ground.
The Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters, has launched a major advance in recent weeks near Aleppo, once Syria's biggest city, now divided between rebel- and government-held sectors.
The offensive, one of the biggest shifts in momentum of the five year civil war, has brought government forces closer than they have been in years to a border crossing with Turkey that has served as the main supply route into rebel-held territory.
There would be no letup in an army advance, which aimed "to liberate cities and villages that were controlled by the terrorists for 3-1/2 years, and also an attempt to liberate the city of Aleppo from the crimes of terrorism", Shaaban said.
Damascus intended "to control our borders with Turkey, because Turkey is the main source of terrorists, and the main crossing for them".
The United Nations said on Tuesday it was worried about the fate of up to 300,000 people still living in rebel-held parts of Aleppo, who could be cut off from food supplies if the government advance succeeds in surrounding the city and blocking access from Turkey.