ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The United States slammed Russia, holding it directly responsible for the carnage in Syria’s Aleppo, the eastern rebel-held neighbourhoods of which have been under unrelenting bombardment since Damascus declared the ceasefire over earlier this week.
Describing the situation as “apocalyptic,” the US representative to the United Nations Samantha Power noted that more than 150 airstrikes had been carried out in Aleppo over the last 72 hours. She demanded the UN Security Council, holding an emergency session on Syria on Sunday, to “in a single voice, tell Russia to stop.”
She accused Russia and the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of loading bombs onto warplanes to drop on Aleppo even as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was discussing peace at the UN. “Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war,” said Power.
Looking at the Russian representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, Power said Russia will not tell the truth to the Security Council, and will not accept responsibility for its actions but will blame terrorists.
Power warned the Security Council that now is not the time to use the “passive voice” so common from the council, saying that history will not look kindly on members who stay silent and accused Russia of abusing its privilege of a permanent seat on the council.
Churkin told the council that peace in Syria was “almost an impossible task now.” He said that Moscow has pressured Damascus many times to meet demands made by opposition groups but Damascus had not complied. He also pointed out that rebel groups had also violated the truce, despite the US promising to keep rebel groups under control.
He accused the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which it said made up 2,000 of the estimated 3,500 rebel fighters in eastern Aleppo, of using civilians as human shields. “Over 200,000 residents of Aleppo are hostages of the al-Nusra Front and groups allied with it.”
Churkin said that the rebel fighters were the main reason why attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Aleppo failed and said that a true ceasefire can only begin with destroying Nusra Front.
“The ceasefire can only be salvaged now on a collective basis. It's not us that have to prove something to somebody unilaterally. We have to see proof that there is a genuine desire to separate US-allied rebel groups from the al-Nusra Front, then destroy the al-Nusra Front and bring the opposition into a political process. Otherwise our suspicions that this was only meant to shield the al-Nusra Front would only grow stronger.”
He pleaded with the council not to let the cessation of hostilities be buried under the dust of Aleppo, saying that for the Syrian people, trust had been broken and the international community was losing its credibility.
There is one constant in Syria, de Mistura said, “Neither side will win and therefore both ultimately will lose. And above all, civilian people are going to lose and they are losing their lives day-by-day.”
Describing the situation as “apocalyptic,” the US representative to the United Nations Samantha Power noted that more than 150 airstrikes had been carried out in Aleppo over the last 72 hours. She demanded the UN Security Council, holding an emergency session on Syria on Sunday, to “in a single voice, tell Russia to stop.”
She accused Russia and the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad of loading bombs onto warplanes to drop on Aleppo even as Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was discussing peace at the UN. “Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war,” said Power.
Looking at the Russian representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, Power said Russia will not tell the truth to the Security Council, and will not accept responsibility for its actions but will blame terrorists.
Power warned the Security Council that now is not the time to use the “passive voice” so common from the council, saying that history will not look kindly on members who stay silent and accused Russia of abusing its privilege of a permanent seat on the council.
Churkin told the council that peace in Syria was “almost an impossible task now.” He said that Moscow has pressured Damascus many times to meet demands made by opposition groups but Damascus had not complied. He also pointed out that rebel groups had also violated the truce, despite the US promising to keep rebel groups under control.
He accused the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which it said made up 2,000 of the estimated 3,500 rebel fighters in eastern Aleppo, of using civilians as human shields. “Over 200,000 residents of Aleppo are hostages of the al-Nusra Front and groups allied with it.”
Staffan de Mistura, the UN's special envoy for Syria, had earlier confirmed that the UN estimates more than half of the fighters in eastern Aleppo are from the Nusra Front.
Churkin said that the rebel fighters were the main reason why attempts to deliver humanitarian aid to Aleppo failed and said that a true ceasefire can only begin with destroying Nusra Front.
“The ceasefire can only be salvaged now on a collective basis. It's not us that have to prove something to somebody unilaterally. We have to see proof that there is a genuine desire to separate US-allied rebel groups from the al-Nusra Front, then destroy the al-Nusra Front and bring the opposition into a political process. Otherwise our suspicions that this was only meant to shield the al-Nusra Front would only grow stronger.”
De Mistura, after seeing numerous efforts to introduce a lasting ceasefire bombed to shreds, said he had been asked repeatedly why he does not give up and resign. He refused, saying that any sign of him resigning would signal that the international community is giving up on the Syrian people. “We don’t need that type of signal,” he said.
He pleaded with the council not to let the cessation of hostilities be buried under the dust of Aleppo, saying that for the Syrian people, trust had been broken and the international community was losing its credibility.
There is one constant in Syria, de Mistura said, “Neither side will win and therefore both ultimately will lose. And above all, civilian people are going to lose and they are losing their lives day-by-day.”
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