U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters today he was “frustrated” that the cease-fire inside Syria, brokered last week by Russian Federation and the United States, had fallen apart but said he was “no less determined today than I was yesterday” to restore the cease-fire.
Advertisement
The air campaign overnight came after Syria’s military command announced it was launching operations in Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern quarters, raising concerns of imminent ground operations.
Kerry told the Council the only hope of reviving the ceasefire would be for Russian Federation to order Assad to ground his air force and stop hitting civilian targets.
The conflict has wrought a devastating human toll, killing hundreds of thousands, displacing half the country’s pre-war population of 22 million and included poison gas attacks, starvation sieges and raids on hospitals.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military on the reports, or mention of Aleppo air strikes on state media.
“Forty trucks are sitting at the Turkish-Syrian border”.
The government already controls the city’s western half, where fewer people have fled.
Residents told the BBC earlier this week that barrel bombs had struck rebel-held districts, causing many fires. Before the war, the city held almost 3 million people and was Syria’s economic hub.
A squadron of five aircraft was in the skies above the city on Friday morning, with bombing waves targeting the east of the city, according to Ammar al Selmo, the head of the civil defence rescue service.
“What is happening is Aleppo is under attack and everyone is going back to the conflict”, United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura said.
A Syrian man carries a baby after removing him from the rubble of a destroyed building following a reported air strike in the Qatarji neighbourhood of the northern city of Aleppo on September 21, 2016.
Aleppo was once Syria’s commercial and industrial hub but has been ravaged by fighting and roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east since mid-2012.
The U.S. -Russian agreement marked their second attempt this year to halt the war. The agreement, however, disintegrated after only one week when an aid convoy was bombed on Monday. -Russian effort against jihadist groups including Islamic State and the Nusra Front, long al Qaeda’s Syrian wing.
“I believe that the United States is not genuine regarding having a cessation of violence in Syria”, he told SANA.
De Mistura said that announcing the termination of the cessation of hostilities was wrong and added that he wants to see parties to the war, including the USA and Russian Federation, serious about brokering peace.
“We can’t be the only ones trying to hold this door open”, Mr Kerry said.
The International Syria Support Group, including Moscow, Washington and other major powers, met on the sidelines of the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders in NY.
“I am no less determined today than I was yesterday but I am even more frustrated”, said Kerry.
Western states have backed Kerry’s call to ground warplanes to create the right conditions for the truce.
Advertisement
“The response of the Russians was not satisfying”, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said after the meeting on the sidelines of the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders.
