Brett McGurk, the Obama administration’s point-man for defeating the Islamic State, said Russia’s Aleppo offensive was having the perverse effect of helping the extremists by drawing local fighters away from the battle against IS and to the war against Syria’s government.
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Russian Federation has reportedly suggested the possibility of a ceasefire in Syria, hours ahead of a crucial meeting of major powers in Germany on how to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russian air strikes were being undertaken in a “transparent manner”.
Zeid voiced “utmost alarm” at the rapidly worsening human rights situation in and around Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria, where he said “shocking violations and abuses are committed on a daily basis”.
German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, reported that on Wednesday, New Zealand, Spain, Britain and France pressured the UN Security Council Member State to stop its intense bombing in the war-torn area.
The Russian Air Force has performed over 500 sorties, eliminating almost 1,900 terrorist facilities in Syria between February 4 and February 11. The defense ministry rejected accusations of targeting residential areas of Aleppo, arguing that the footage of the aftermath of the airstrikes there that Western media have been broadcasting was filmed long before Russian Federation began carrying out airstrikes in Syria last September.
United Nations envoy Staffan de Mistura last week suspended Syria peace talks until February 25 amid opposition protests about the bombing, and the Munich meeting aims to pressure the sides to return to the table.
“They have an obligation to use their influence over the Assad regime to get a ceasefire, to get proper humanitarian access and to stop these aerial bombardments”, said Rycroft.
However, he added that to date, the US had not shown any “willingness to genuinely pressure Russian Federation”.
The French government insisted on Wednesday that a political solution in Syria ultimately requires Assad’s departure.
Ankara is on alert for fighters infiltrating its territory, after a series of attacks on its soil that the government blamed on the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s closest ally, began conducting air strikes of its own September 30, 2015, targeting mainly rebels backed by the West, according to U.S. officials.
Kerry emphasized Tuesday that US officials “are not blind to what is happening”.
An official with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent said the convoy, which included vehicles from the SARC and the International Committee of the Red Cross, was evacuating sick people from Madaya when it came under fire by unknown gunmen.
Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday that about 23,000 new arrivals fleeing the fighting in Aleppo were in urgent need of emergency shelter and support near Syria’s border with Turkey.
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“It is estimated that around 50,000 people have been displaced, mainly in northern areas of Aleppo province, due to the recent upsurge in fighting”, it said. The Pentagon, for its part, says they have “no current plans” to intervene against Russian Federation and Syria in the Aleppo offensive.
