Syria talks will end unless Russia stops bombing Aleppo, warns Kerry
US Secretary of State John Kerry has said that Washington is “on the verge” of ending Syria talks with Moscow because of days of deadly bombings of Aleppo by Russian and Syrian planes. American officials are now looking at new options on how it might seek to end the conflict in Syria.
“The President has asked all of the agencies to put forward options, some familiar, some new, that we are very actively reviewing,” Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday, without giving details.
He said officials would “work through these in the days ahead”.
Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Mr Blinken said that “all of the outside patrons are going to throw in more and more weaponry against Russia. Russia will be left propping up [President Bashar al-]Assad in an ever smaller piece of Syria.”
Russia has vowed to press on with its offensive in Syria and accused the United States of “de facto support for terrorism” in the country. The United States said yesterday that the Syrian and Russian assault on Aleppo was a gift to Isis.
“What Assad and Russia are doing in Aleppo is soul-shattering,” US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power told reporters. “What they are doing is sowing not only the doom of this country ... but it is going to generate more refugee flow, more radicalisation. What they are doing is a gift to Isil [Isis] and … the groups that they claim that they want to stop,” she said.
The diplomatic moves come after UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon described what is happening in Aleppo as worse than “a slaughterhouse”. Two hospitals in besieged east Aleppo were hit by air strikes on Wednesday, amid a renewed assault on the city. Seven people were killed and at least one of the hospitals is out of service following the bombings, which also hit a bread distribution centre. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said six people were killed outside the centre.
Speaking to the UN Security Council just hours after the hospitals had been bombed, Mr Ban implicitly accused Syria and Russia of committing war crimes. “Let us be clear: those using ever more destructive weapons know exactly what they are doing. They know they are committing war crimes,” he said.
Syria’s government is conducting a major offensive in Aleppo in a renewed attempt to take back rebel-held neighbourhoods after a US-Russia ceasefire broke down.
“Imagine the destruction,” Mr Ban continued. “People with their limbs blown off, children in terrible pain with no relief, infected, suffering, dying. With nowhere to go and no end in sight. Imagine a slaughterhouse. This is worse. Even a slaughterhouse is more humane.”
Mr Ban urged the Security Council to take “decisive steps” to protect health facilities and medical staff.
Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Evgeny Zagaynov told the council that Syria and Russia are being blamed for “the majority of strikes on civilian facilities in Syria” – including Wednesday’s hospital bombings in Aleppo – without any independent investigation and verification.
At least 96 children have been killed and 223 injured since last Friday, the UN children’s agency said on Wednesday.
Children in the city are “trapped in a living nightmare”, Unicef deputy executive director Justin Forsyth said, adding that the shock and suffering among children “is definitely the worst we have seen”.
Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari rejected accusations yesterday that his government was killing civilians. “The Syrian government is not bombing civilians. These people are our own people. We don’t bomb civilians, we don’t kill civilians. We don’t bomb humanitarian convoys. We don’t do that. Those who did it are the terrorists,” Mr Ja’afari said.