Obama denounces Aleppo ‘horror’ as evacuation suspended
ALEPPO, Syria: Responsibility for atrocities committed in Aleppo lies with Syria and its Russian and Iranian backers, US President Barack Obama said Friday as Damascus suspended the evacuation of civilians and fifi ghters from the city’s last rebel-held areas.
Denouncing the ‘horror’ in Aleppo, Obama called for impartial observers and warned President Bashar al-Assad that he would not be able to ‘slaughter his way to legitimacy’.
“The world as we speak is united in horror at the savage assault by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies on the city of Aleppo,” he told an end-of-year news conference.
“This blood and these atrocities are on their hands.”
UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon earlier warned that Aleppo had become ‘a synonym for hell’ and said the United Nations (UN) urged ‘all necessary measures’ for a safe resumption of the evacuation.
The Security Council could vote as early as this weekend on a French-drafted proposal to allow international observers in Aleppo and ensure urgent aid deliveries.
US Ambassador Samantha Power said after a closed-door council meeting that UN offificials were ready to be sent quickly to Aleppo.
“The presence of independent observers can deter some of the worst horrors,” she said.
French Ambassador Francois Delattre said: “The immediate priority is to save lives, to stop the massacres and to avoid a new Srebrenica,” referring to the massacre of Bosnian Muslims during the Balkan wars.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, however, argued that it would take weeks to send monitors to Aleppo. Turkey and a Syrian military source said the evacuation from the city had been suspended but was not yet
The world as we speak is united in horror at the savage assault by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies on the city of Aleppo. — Barack Obama, US President
over, while Moscow insisted the operation was ‘complete’, with all women and children moved from the city.
Amid the confusion, a convoy of evacuees that had already left the east when the operation was suspended was forced to turn back, an AFP correspondent said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), supervising the evacuations, said it was looking into reports of shooting before the convoy was turned back.
The delicate operation to bring the last civilians and rebels out of east Aleppo began on Thursday and continued overnight, with thousands leaving in buses and ambulances.
But on Friday morning it was abruptly suspended, with the government accusing rebels of violating the terms of the deal.
State television said rebels had tried to smuggle out heavy weapons and hostages.
The opposition accused the government of suspending the operation in a bid to secure the evacuation of residents from Fuaa and Kafraya, two villages under rebel siege in northwest Syria.
The government and Iran have reportedly sought to add an evacuation of civilians from the villages to the terms of the Aleppo deal.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-government fifi ghters had blocked the road the convoy had been using and rebels were refusing the evacuation of residents of Fuaa and Kafraya.
Evacuating the last rebel pocket in Aleppo had been scheduled to start on Wednesday, but was delayed by a day because of government objections, including over Fuaa and Kafraya.
Clashes resumed for several hours before the deal was revived, and buses and ambulances began transporting evacuees to rebel territory in western Aleppo
province. — AFP