CIVILIAN DEATH TOLL HITS 500 IN GHOUTA
Vote on ceasefire in Syrian rebel enclave held up in United Nations
Air strikes on the Syrian rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta have in seven days killed more than 500 civilians, 127 of them children, a monitoring group said yesterday.
And a UN Security Council vote on a ceasefire failed to start as scheduled at 9pm last night, raising speculation that it could be postponed.
“Today we are going to see if Russia has a conscience,” the US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, said as she entered the council chamber.
The US on Friday blamed Russia, the Syrian government’s main ally, for stalling international humanitarian efforts to ease the suffering in Syria after the Security Council remained deadlocked on a resolution for a truce across the war-torn country.
But negotiations on Friday led to amendments to the proposed measure, which now states that the ceasefire will begin “without delay”, not after 72 hours as provided in a previous draft, Agence France-Presse reported.
Yesterday was the seventh straight day of regime bombardment in Eastern Ghouta, Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave the toll for the week-long onslaught, saying the strikes were being carried out by Syrian and Russian planes.
Moscow, which intervened in support of President Bashar Al Assad in 2015, has denied any direct involvement in the Eastern Ghouta offensive.
Security Council members spent Friday haggling over Russian resolutions that western diplomats said were designed to buy time for their Syrian allies to continue their assault on the rebels.
Ms Haley laid out her frustration in a message on Twitter: “Unbelievable that Russia is stalling a vote on a ceasefire allowing humanitarian access in Syria.
“How many more people will die before the security council agrees to take up this vote? Let’s do this tonight. The Syrian people can’t wait.”
Throughout the day world leaders pleaded for immediate action to ease the worsening crisis.
US President Donald Trump said Syria’s actions were a “humanitarian disgrace”, while UN aid chiefs condemned the regime’s “utter disregard for civilian lives”.
The text of the draft resolution says that 5.6 million people in 1,244 communities are in desperate need of help, including 2.9 million in remote and besieged locations.
The 30-day pause would allow attacks to continue against ISIL and Al Qaeda-linked militants, including members of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an alliance led by Jabhat Fatah Al Sham, Al Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate.
Russia is also demanding guarantees that the truce would be respected by rebel fighters.
A vote was first scrapped on Thursday after Russia raised objections and then tentatively scheduled for Friday morning, but the timetable was repeatedly pushed back as diplomats haggled over the text as they tried to reach an agreement.
On Friday evening, officials
said the earliest a vote could take place was at midday in New York yesterday.
The civilian casualties and devastation in Eastern Ghouta are among the worst in Syria since the government captured rebel-held parts of Aleppo in intense fighting in 2016.
Meanwhile, UN humanitarian agencies issued a joint statement demanding additional support for Syria’s neighbours who are hosting 5.5 million refugees.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Achim Steiner, the head of the UN Development Programme, and Mark Lowcock, the emergency relief co-ordinator, issued a statement saying: “We are deeply shaken and distraught by the brutality and utter disregard for civilian lives we are witnessing in Eastern Ghouta and other parts of Syria today.”
“We are urging an immediate ceasefire, protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and unfettered humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta, swift evacuation of sick and injured people and safe passage for civilians wishing to leave.”
Also on Friday, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and Emmanuel Macron, the French President, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to support a ceasefire.
The powers “guaranteeing” the ceasefire in Syria have been reduced to accomplices in the extermination campaign taking place in Eastern Ghouta in the south. In the north, in Afrin, those who thought they could settle the battle quickly have fallen victim to their arrogance. Russia lost the restraint it had shown earlier. Iran’s pretences have been laid bare by the carnage in Syria. Turkey seems to have struck a deal to turn a blind eye to Ghouta in return for “victory” in Afrin. These three guarantor states are now being accused by the international stakeholders of abandoning a political solution in Syria.
Four whole days had to pass before the world started waking up to the hell unleashed on those in Ghouta, with the images of bodies making their way into the media like a tableau from a bygone savage era. UN chief Antonio Guterres called for an end to the madness, which he said has turned Ghouta into a “hell on Earth”, urging an end to hostilities so that the sick and wounded “can be immediately evacuated and humanitarian aid deliveries can reach those in need”. His special envoy, Staffan de Mistura, characterised Ghouta as a second Aleppo, in reference to the siege and destruction of that city before it fell in 2016. Zeid bin Ra’ad, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, called for an end to the “monstrous campaign of annihilation”. And poignantly, Geert Cappelaere, Unicef’s Middle East and North Africa regional director, said “No words will do justice to the children killed, their mothers, their fathers and their loved ones” in Ghouta.
In the West, Germany held Russia and Iran responsible for the massacre. A spokesperson for the German chancellor said: “One has to ask where is Russia, where is Iran, which had pledged in Astana to guarantee a ceasefire also in eastern Ghouta … Without the support of these two allies, Assad’s regime would not be where it is today.” Germany called on the Syrian regime to stop the massacre in Ghouta and allow humanitarian aid in, urging Moscow and Tehran top put pressure on Damascus to this end. France too appealed to Russia and Iran to impose a ceasefire in eastern Ghouta. For its part, the United States called for an end to the bombardment, with a spokesperson for the state department saying “Russia bears a unique responsibility for what is taking place there”.
Russia’s reaction was remarkable. Moscow denied US accusations, with Kremlin spokesperson describing them as “unfounded”. At the Security Council, the Russians were quick to pre-empt a motion by Sweden and Kuwait for a resolution on a 30-day ceasefire in Ghouta, and asked for an urgent session to allow all sides to present their understanding of the situation.
Russian obstruction was aimed at preventing the Security Council from condemning the Syrian regime’s actions and blaming Russia and Iran, as well as blocking a resolution that could halt the military momentum in Eastern Ghouta seeking to end rebel presence there, with Tehran’s support and Moscow’s blessing.
Practically speaking, what is happening is the collapse of the guarantors of the ceasefire in Ghouta, one of the de-escalation zones agreed by Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, the Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the UN for Syria, conveyed the body’s concerns for the political process being co-ordinated with the Russians, with the Astana track in extreme jeopardy following the escalation in Ghouta.
Yet Russia’s protestations of US double standards on humanitarian issues came with an attempt to reach some kind of exit in collaboration with regional powers led by Egypt. Indeed, Cairo has become effectively the fourth guarantor in Eastern Ghouta itself, where it had helped Russia conclude truce agreements. Egypt’s foreign ministry issued a statement calling for a truce to bring in aid and evacuate the wounded.
Egypt sees the violent escalation in Ghouta as a blow to its efforts there. Cairo believes it has a distinguished role different from Turkey and does not mind helping Moscow find an exit amid growing pressures on Russia. According to reports, some high-level co-ordination is taking place between Egypt and Russia, partially based on using the latter’s influence on the Syrian regime and Iran, in tandem with Egypt’s influence on the so-called Cairo Group of Syrian opposition factions.
But the final form of any such de-escalation will not be easy to reach. Moscow is determined to eliminate all armed groups in eastern Ghouta, having for long called on them to disarm voluntarily.
Today, the Russians believe negotiations to reach a peaceful outcome in Ghouta are a dead end, as hinted at by the Reconciliation Centre in Russia’s airbase in Hmeimim. There may be no other option but to repeat the Aleppo outcome in Ghouta, in the Russian eyes.
Moscow however is aware that the collapse of the Astana process is now a strong possibility, which would serve US long-term goals amid continued Russian-American tensions. But the Russian diplomacy will continue to attempt to walk a tightrope: it needs Egypt’s help as a guarantor in Syria’s south, is cutting deals with the second guarantor Turkey in the north, and is defending Iran’s role as a guarantor far and wide.
Not long ago, Russia seemed confident, in control of Syria’s political, military, and economic keys, and ready to distribute shares and reconstruction contracts, based on its belief the war had been settled in its favour.
Today, Russia appears anxious, confused and distracted. The Russians had thought that having a shared enemy with the Americans was enough to achieve a qualitative shift in their relations. “We’ve discovered that this assumption was wrong … and the shared enemy – ISIL – is no longer there,” said one Russian source.