In more heated scenes in the UN Security Council on Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said all air operations over combat zones in Syria should be grounded in a bid to restore the cease fire.
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Mr Kerry’s response was to say Mr lavrov sounded as if he were talking about a “parallel universe”. The cease-fire last week was created to lead to military cooperation between the US and Russian Federation in the fight against ISIS and a rebel group that has had ties to al-Qaida. Russian Federation was tasked with restraining Syria during this latest attempt at a ceasefire, undertaken last week. “Are we supposed to sit at a table and have happy talk with a government that does these things?” The ongoing civil war has given terror groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda fertile recruiting ground, has sucked in regional powers seeking influence over the outcome and has sent ripples through Europe and its allies.
He grew angry after listening to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In response, the United Nations suspended overland aid operations to priority areas in Syria pending a full security assessment. Then the Russian Defense Ministry said the aid convoy was accompanied by militants in a pickup truck with a mortar. “Anybody here believe that?” he asked. He added that bombing attacks on hospitals and children are “flagrant violations of worldwide law”. Twenty civilians were killed when the Syrian Red Crescent convoy was struck.
Even before the strikes, some 40 United Nations trucks carrying relief supplies destined for rebel-held east Aleppo had remained stuck in a customs zone between the Turkish and Syrian borders since early last week. “If you had an area of geography in Syria where planes couldn’t fly over it, people would still be killing each other on the ground”.
The ceasefire which took effect last week is probably the last hope for a settlement on Syria before the administration of President Barack Obama leaves office, and has been Kerry’s main focus for months.
“The key priority is to separate the opposition forces from the terrorists”, said Mr Lavrov.
Russian Federation has categorically denied involvement and is calling for a “thorough and impartial” investigation of what happened.
And he urged his counterparts at the meeting to “refrain from emotional comments”. “We’ll see what people are willing to do”. “This was an outrageous action”, said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
The UN estimates that some six million Syrians live in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. He called the accidental USA -led coalition bombing Saturday of Syrian troops a “clear violation” of the cease-fire.
It says the triage point was located in the rebel-held town of Khan Touman, south of Aleppo.
Kerry also called for the creation of no-go areas for aircraft in northern Syria.
Kremlin government rejected such claims suggesting that US -backed aid workers could have destroyed their own convoy.
“The United States did not hit an aid convoy or a target that was under protection”, Robert Ford said.
Kerry on his part has not said anything that is actionable. “The primary question is, collectively, what are we going to do about it?”
Lavrov needled the U.S. over opposition groups during his address. Whether it was the Russians or the Syrian regime is still unknown but the burden of responsibility lies on Russia to ensure regime compliance.
The Soviet-built Admiral Kuznetsov, the only aircraft carrier in the Russian navy, has recently been re-equipped with new fighter jets. The United Nations has since suspended all humanitarian aid convoys.
And he alluded to “geopolitical engineering”, a reference to Russian concerns about USA attempts at “regime change”.
Before wrapping his speech Wednesday, Kerry called on the global community to take a stand against Russia, Syria and any other nation that is helping to “sabotage” the delicate peace process. The scale of the atrocities committed by the Syrian government, he said, meant “we can’t just do business as usual”.
Here’s video of Kerry at the UN. “Can not let spoilers prevail”, Kerry tweeted after speaking.
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Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had previously told UN Security Council the world was facing a “make or break moment” in Syria, as there were multiple reports of fighting between Syrian rebels and pro-government forces.
