Syrians inspect damaged buildings after airstrikes hit the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Sept. 25.
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“Since the announcement two days ago by the Syrian Army of an offensive to capture eastern Aleppo, there have been repeated reports of airstrikes involving the use of incendiary weapons and advanced munitions such as bunker buster bombs”, he continued.
Rescue operations are limited in the area since there is a constant presence of jets who suppose a high level of danger to activists. The Aleppo Media Center said hospitals in Aleppo were facing severe shortages of blood.
Even as dozens more died in Aleppo, Syria, an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council in New York City ended with no action having been taken as Russian Federation clashed openly with representatives from the United States, Britain and France. American, British and French diplomats requested the session considering the aggressive push of the Syrian government to control eastern Aleppo.
Around 150 cluster bombs caused devastation in Aleppo over the weekend, US Ambassador Samantha Power said. “We have proven this a few times before”, he said, adding that he would not quit trying to bring peace in Syria.
A ceasefire that was supposed to last a week, came to an abrupt end less than a day in September 18 when a United Nations aid convoy attempting to provide humanitarian relief for Aleppo was attacked, killing 20 people.
For its part, Russian Federation hardly offered a more hopeful prognosis of the situation on the ground: “in Syria hundreds of armed groups are being armed, the territory of the country is being bombed indiscriminately”.
Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, told the Security Council that his government plans to retake all of the territory lost to rebels, including the city of Aleppo.
The opposition says the violence has been even more intense than before the ceasefire took hold.
The Handarat camp in northern Aleppo has changed hands twice since Saturday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 26 civilians had been killed by 7:30 p.m., adding that it expected the toll to rise.
French Foreign Minister Jean- Marc Ayrault also warned that Russian Federation and Iran would become accomplices in war crimes if they continued to prolong the war in Syria.
‘So President Putin can ensure the Assad regime ceasefire and supports the ceasefire and participates in it and he should do so for the sake of humanity, ‘ he said.
“When it comes to instances such as the bombing of civilian targets in Aleppo, we should be looking at whether or not that targeting is done in the knowledge that those are wholly innocent civilian targets”.
The monitor said at least 19 children were among those killed in the assault, which has included missile strikes, barrel bomb attacks and artillery fire.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has described the escalating violence in Aleppo as “chilling” and warned that the use of advanced weaponry in the city could amount to a war crime.
That same day, an aid convoy was hit by an air strike that USA officials blame on Russian Federation.
AFP quoted U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power as telling the Council: “Instead of pursuing peace, Russian Federation and Assad make war”.
Efforts to revive a temporary cessation of hostilities failed, and frustration mounted among U.S. allies that the closed-door negotiations between officials in Washington and Moscow had yielded no relief.
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On Friday, Syrian warplanes dropped leaflets over eastern Aleppo, renewing calls on civilians to stay away from the rebel positions and advising the rebels to surrender. Power and her British counterpart, both representing permanent members of the UN Security Council who have also killed civilians in Syria airstrikes, insisted that the war was at this point Russia’s fault.
