The United States on Sunday called Russia’s action in Syria “barbarism” not counter-terrorism while Moscow’s UN envoy said ending the war “is nearly an impossible task now” as Syrian government forces, backed by Moscow, bombed the city of Aleppo.
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BRITAIN’S ambassador to the United Nations has walked out of an emergency session of the Security Council after accusing Russian Federation of committing war crimes.
The United Nations Security Council is to meet Sunday to discuss the devastating Syrian government offensive on Aleppo that has raged since a shaky ceasefire deal fell apart last week.
“Russia, more than any other nation, has the power to bring these attacks on the people of Aleppo to an end and allow for the urgent resumption of desperately needed humanitarian aid”, he said in a statement.
The US accused Moscow of “barbarism” over the worsening carnage in Aleppo, as Syrian and Russian warplanes pounded the city in one of the heaviest bombing raids of the five-year war.
Britain accused Russian Federation of committing “war crimes” in Syria as world powers rounded on Moscow last night (Sunday night) in one of the most bitter meetings of the UN Security Council in recent memory.
The U.N. Special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told the Council he had seen videos and pictures of incendiary bombs “that create fireballs of such intensity that they light up the pitch darkness in eastern Aleppo, as though it was actually daylight”.
“It is hard to deny that Russian Federation is partnering with the Syrian regime to carry out war crimes”, said British ambassador Matthew Rycroft, adding that the high-tech weaponry had inflicted “a new hell” on war-weary Syrians.
Rebels then launched a counter offensive to try to retake the area, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Sunday that the USA and Russian bid to bring peace to Syria “is very, very near the end of its life and yes the Security Council needs to be ready to fulfill our responsibilities”.
Samantha Power, US ambassador to UN.
The one constant in this violently unpredictable conflict is that neither side will win, and that the Syrian people will lose, and they are losing their lives, day by day, he told the Council as the announcement of a cessation of hostilities in early September, the already dire humanitarian situation in Aleppo has deteriorated even further since the Government chose to unilaterally end the truce and begin airstrikes.
France’s foreign minister says Russian Federation and Iran will be guilty of war crimes if they don’t pressure Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop escalating violence.
“War crimes are being committed here in Aleppo”, French Ambassador Francois Delattre said, calling for action to ensure the atrocities do not go unpunished.
The session, to begin at 11 a.m. ET, was requested by the United States, Britain and France in the wake of the regime’s military push to retake rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo in recent days, a UN source confirmed to CNN.
Violence is flaring again in Syria after a brief cease-fire collapsed.
“I am still convinced that we can turn the course of events”.
As for Russia’s claims to be fighting terrorists, Power said, “Nobody has to convince the United States of America of the danger posed by terrorists”.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the “chilling” escalation making use of advanced weaponry against civilians could amount to war crimes.
Rebels, meanwhile, shelled Masyaf, a government stronghold near the central city of Hama, for the second day in a row on Sunday, according to the Observatory. Masyaf is home to a large number of Alawites, members of Assad’s sect.
But a broad coalition of Syrian rebels denounced global negotiations for peace as “meaningless”, earlier Sunday. The attacks were in residential areas controlled by opposition forces with “15 phosphorous and 18 vacuum bombs”, Ansari said.
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The organization said it had reached 60,000 residents trapped in the towns of Madaya, Zabadani, Foua, and Kafraya.
