Syria's army has broken a siege of Aleppo prison, cutting off a major rebel supply route, as Damascus allies China and Russia vetoed a bid to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.
The Western-proposed UN Security Council resolution, which would have covered war crimes committed by all sides in the civil war, comes less than a fortnight before President Bashar al-Assad's expected re-election.
Tanks and armoured vehicles rolled into the grounds of the prison in the main northern city of Aleppo, more than a year into a rebel siege of the sprawling complex, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The development puts the army and its allies, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, within reach of Castelo Road, which rebels in Aleppo have relied on as a supply route.
An army spokesman told state television this "tightens the noose around the terrorists' positions in the eastern and northern edges of Aleppo, and cuts off the roads (they) were using to move from the northern countryside towards the city."
The regime refers to the rebels as "terrorists".
The advance into the area around the prison was preceded by an aerial assault Thursday, said the Observatory.
Rebel fighters have repeatedly attacked the prison since April 2013, hoping to free approximately 3,500 detainees, who are reportedly being held in dire conditions.
Troops inside the prison have fought to defend it.
The prison had nearly 4,000 inmates before the siege, including Islamists. Poor humanitarian conditions, including a lack of food and medicines, and the bombardment have caused the death of some 600 prisoners, according to the Observatory.
State television showed footage shot inside the prison, and a reporter interviewed both security forces and prisoners, including women.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that humanitarian access throughout Syria was worsening, blaming the government in particular but also the armed rebels in a third report on the matter.
Ban said Damascus was still stopping aid convoys from crossing into Syria from Iraq, Jordan and Turkey in violation of a Security Council resolution adopted in February.
The report said more than 3.5 million Syrians continue to have "unpredictable and woefully inadequate" access to humanitarian assistance.
Meanwhile, key Assad allies Russia and China vetoed a draft UN resolution that would have referred Syria to the International Criminal Court to examine chemical attacks, systematic torture, barrel bombings and blocked aid access.
This was the fourth time both countries have blocked Western resolutions relating to the conflict.
The 13 other members of the Security Council all voted in favour of the proposed resolution, which would have seen crimes committed by all sides in the country's war examined.
US ambassador Samantha Power told the council that, as a result of the vetoes, "the Syrian people will not see justice today."
AFP wf
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