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.
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“What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counterterrorism, it is barbarism”, Samantha Power told the Security Council.
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.
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said “whether the bombing of the aid convoy was done with the knowledge that the targets were civilian, and would therefore constitute a war crime”, Johnson said, adding that the ongoing bombing in Aleppo was “absolutely barbaric”.
Russia’s United Nations ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the Council that peace in Syria was “almost an impossible task now”, accusing rebels groups of having sabotaged the ceasefire.
“I’ve never seen so many people dying in once place”, he said from a hospital in the city.
Mr Key led a meeting of the UN’s Security Council last week, where he blasted the worldwide community for failing to end the brutal war.
The Syrian Defense Ministry announced Thursday the commencement of a new offensive against rebel-held areas in eastern Aleppo, urging the civilians to leave immediately and the rebels to lay down their weapons. “The incendiary munitions that are dropping on Aleppo are indiscriminate and a clear breach of worldwide law – the barrel-busting bombs that are falling from the skies likewise”, he said.
Diplomatic deadlock reigned as the USA and its European allies attacked Russian Federation for its culpability in the war and Russian Federation attacked the US -led coalition for arming and supporting opposition militia with links to terrorists.
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.
He appealed for renewed efforts to allow Syria to “step away from the brink of more years of bloody conflict which risks to become even worse”.
“Instead of peace, Russian Federation and Assad make war”, she said. United States officials believe Russian aircraft were responsible for the strike, but Moscow has denied involvement.
The Observatory said earlier in the day that 213 civilians had been killed by airstrikes and shelling on opposition areas in and around Aleppo since a US-Russian brokered ceasefire collapsed on Monday evening.
Meanwhile the water supply to an estimated two million people was cut off following a strike on a pumping station.
The US president, Barack Obama, said at the time that the use of such weapons would be a red line for his government.
Britain’s United Nations ambassador, Matthew Rycroft, said on Sunday the American 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”.
The UN’s top envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, accused its government of unleashing “unprecedented military violence” against civilians in Aleppo.
“Yet in Syria and in Aleppo, Russia is abusing this historic privilege”, she said.
Syria’s foreign minister said Saturday that his government was confident of “victory” with support from “true friends” including Russia, Iran, and Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
In an interview with the Associated Press published on Thursday, President Bashar al-Assad blamed the United States for the collapse of the truce and accused it of deliberately targeting Syrian army soldiers.
The organization said it had reached 60,000 residents trapped in the towns of Madaya, Zabadani, Foua, and Kafraya.
As the Syrian government and rebel forces battled for control of the city, the United Nations said any peace process would be futile unless “scorched earth bombing” by Russian-backed government forces stopped.
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Syrian men ride a motorbike past damaged buildings in the rebel-held Bustan al-Qasr district in eastern Aleppo, on May 4, 2016.
