West demands end to ‘brutal and merciless’ slaughter in Ghouta
Allies urge Russia to back UN ceasefire as bombs continue to rain death on trapped Syrians
BRITAIN and its Western allies last night urged Russia to support calls to end the “brutal and merciless” assault on Eastern Ghouta, which has killed more than 400 civilians over five days of bombardment.
As Russian and Syrian regime warplanes continued to pummel the rebelheld suburb of Damascus, the UN Security Council in New York held an emergency meeting.
The UK, US, and France called on Russia not to veto a resolution that would establish a 30-day nationwide ceasefire between Syrian rebel and regime forces and allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Eastern Ghouta and the evacuation of the wounded.
“I am utterly appalled by the brutal and merciless violence that the Assad regime is inflicting on the people of Eastern Ghouta,” said Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary. “They are enduring a hell entirely of the making of Assad and his enablers.
“The UK will press Russia to support a ceasefire to allow for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid. Protecting Syrians and getting them the life sav- ing aid they need must be paramount.” It was not immediately clear when the council would vote on the resolution but diplomats were engaged in intense negotiations to try to craft the measure in such a way that Russia would not veto it.
Moscow has blocked several previous UN resolutions in the past seven years to shield its Syrian regime allies from international criticism. Russia said it was prepared to consider the resolution as long as it made clear that any ceasefire agreement did not apply to either al-qaeda or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). “The resolution that is on the table, we are ready to look at it, but we have offered very precise phrasing,” said Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.
Russia told the UN Security Council yesterday “there is no agreement” yet on the resolution and that it was demanding amendments. Russia has often broadly accused Islamist rebels fighting against the Assad regime of being members of alqaeda, an accusation that has derailed previous ceasefire efforts. Several Western diplomats said they believed Russia would ultimately veto the resolution irrespective of any concessions made.
“If everyone in this chamber were to commit unequivocally [to the resolution] it could have an impact on the ground,” Jonathan Allen, the deputy British ambassador, told the UN council. “It could save the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children being killed as we speak.”
As diplomats gathered in the UN’S Manhattan headquarters, the streets of Eastern Ghouta shook with the blasts of bombs and the roar of aircraft. “Anyone living in Eastern Ghouta is waiting for death,” said Omran Dumani, sheltering in a basement with his family.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 403 civilians had been killed since the bombardment began on Sunday, including 95 children. Activists said that more than 100 strikes were carried out by jets and helicopters on top of artillery bombardment.
Bassem, an anaesthetist at one of Eastern Ghouta’s beleaguered hospitals, said he and others in the besieged
‘Anyone living in Eastern Ghouta is waiting for death’
enclave had long ago stopped paying attention to what happened at the UN.
“All the people in Ghouta will tell you the same thing: the international community has abandoned us,” he said. “There is no humanity in the world because if there were then we would not be in this situation.”
Now that the Islamist threat has been contained in Syria, the powers compete for control. Bashar al-assad’s siege of Eastern Ghouta has been barbaric. Iran would like to establish a serious presence in the country and has spoken, ominously, of breaking Israel’s “hegemonic power”. And it is reported that Russian and American troops clashed at a US base in Deir ez-zor. Syria has evolved from a civil war, to a proxy war, to something that threatens, if cooler heads do not prevail, to become a serious confrontation between its major players.
A problem throughout has been the absence of clear Western policy. A fear of putting boots on the ground was understandable, given the experience of Iraq, but that did not have to rule out coherent military, diplomatic or economic action. Barack Obama vacillated uselessly.
Donald Trump appears to have accepted the logic that Syria’s future is connected to the wider politics of the Middle East. Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia do not want Iran to build an empire: it would make sense to link the future of the nuclear deal to Iran’s foreign policy. When Iranians recently took to the streets they also demanded an end to the regime’s adventurism.
The debate over a cease-fire at the United Nations reminds the world, tragically, of the cynical intransigence of Russia and the repeated failure of the international community. This is why the West cannot totally disengage – either for the sake of those being killed, or to stop the flow of refugees into Europe, or to halt events that will radicalise Syrians and increase the threat of terrorism. Leadership is required to apply pressure and make the case for peace.