Syrians say 26 more killed as blame traded
U.S.’ Power rips Russian ‘barbarism’
BEIRUT — At least 26 civilians were killed in fresh government airstrikes on the contested city of Aleppo, Syrian activists said Sunday, as deep divisions between Russia and the Western powers kept the United Nations from taking any action.
The United States, Britain and France called an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Sunday in which the U.S. accused Russia of “barbarism.” Britain accused Russia of committing war crimes for supporting the Syrian offensive, which U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura called “new heights of horror” and one of the worst of the 5½-year war.
When Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari was called to speak to the council, the ambassadors of the three Western powers walked out in protest.
Russia, meanwhile, blamed its rivals for unleashing terrorist groups across the Middle East. Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the U.N., praised the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, saying it had shown “enviable restraint.”
He accused the Americans of having no influence over the rebel groups they backed, and he repeated his government’s contention
that no cease-fire was possible until all opposition groups distanced themselves from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the militant group formerly known as the Nusra Front, which both Russia and the U.S. consider a terrorist organization.
“Bringing peace is almost an impossible task now,” Churkin said.
But he made clear that Moscow hasn’t given up on a cessation of hostilities.
“Of course, I would like this very much to be our aim as well as the renewal of negotiations,” he said. Churkin spoke so quickly that the official interpreter had trouble keeping up, and at one point the ambassador complained about it.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, took digs at Churkin even before he began speaking, dismissing Russia’s effort to blame other nations while refusing to account for its actions.
“Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war,” she said. “Instead of helping get lifesaving aid to civilians, Russia and Assad are bombing the humanitarian convoys, hospitals and first responders who are trying desperately to keep people alive.”
She said the U.S. needed no reminders about the threat of terrorist groups.
“What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counterterrorism — it’s barbarism,” Power said. “It’s apocalyptic what is being done in eastern Aleppo.”
Power said the U.S. knows “that Russia has consistently said one thing, and done the opposite.” But she said the U.S. also believes it must do “everything in our power to find a way to halt the violence.”
“That is why, even now, we will continue to look for any way possible to restore the cessation of hostilities,” Power said.
‘GO THAT EXTRA MILE’
At the start of the Security Council meeting, de Mistura said the offensive against eastern Aleppo, where up to 275,000 people “have been under a form of de facto siege for almost 20 days,” followed the U.S.-led coalition’s bombing of Syrian troops, which Washington called a tragic mistake, and a deadly attack on a U.N. convoy carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid.
“But no incident, irrespective of whether it can be attributed or not, does justify what is going on in front of our own eyes: the unraveling of the cessation of hostilities and the simultaneous unleashing of unprecedented military violence affecting innocent civilians as well,” he said.
He urged the U.S. and Russia “to go that extra mile to see if they can save their agreement of Sept. 9 and do so at the eleventh hour.”
De Mistura said Syria was carrying out countless airstrikes on residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure in rebel-held parts of Aleppo — a potential war crime. The attacks in Aleppo in recent days have left about 2 million people in the city without running water.
He also urged the Security Council to press for a cessation of hostilities, weekly 48-hour pauses to deliver aid, and medical evacuations for several urgent cases in eastern Aleppo.
De Mistura said Syrians and the international community are swiftly losing any remaining hope with the U.S. and Russia “unless we salvage what was agreed on.”
“All we can expect from Aleppo if the Syrian government is intent on retaking it is … a slow, grinding, street-by-street fight, over the course of months, if not years, whereby the ancient city will be almost completely destroyed,” he warned.
De Mistura reiterated that “a so-called military ‘solution’ or victory in Syria is impossible, including in Aleppo.”
“My appeal to this council today is the following: Please develop a common course of action to enforce a cessation of hostilities in Syria,” he said.
After the meeting ended, he told reporters: “Everything hangs in the balance right now.” And what happens next depends on the Russians and Americans, he said.
While intra-Syria negotiations remain the aim of the Western powers and Russia, a broad coalition of 33 Syrian rebel factions issued a statement Sunday saying: “Negotiations under the present conditions are no longer useful and are meaningless.”
The opposition groups said they won’t accept any Russian mediation, calling Russia a “partner to the regime in the crimes against our people.”
They also called on the government and Russian forces to halt airstrikes and lift sieges on opposition areas where the U.N. estimates
600,000 Syrians are trapped.
On the sidelines of the meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged an end to the offensive, saying the bombs “are not busting bunkers, they are demolishing ordinary people looking for any last refuge of safety.”
“International law is clear: The systematic use of indiscriminate weapons in densely populated areas is a war crime,” he said.
‘IT’S TERRIFYING TODAY’
As the Syrian government offensive entered its fourth day on Sunday, medical workers and Syrian officials reported airstrikes on neighborhoods throughout Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern districts.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 26 civilians had been killed Sunday and said it expects the toll to rise. Ibrahim Alhaj of the Syrian Civil Defense search and rescue outfit gave a higher toll, saying hospitals and rescuers had documented the deaths of 43 people on Sunday.
The Observatory, which relies on a network of contacts inside Syria, said earlier in the day that 213 civilians had been killed by airstrikes and shelling on opposition areas in and around Aleppo since the U.S.-Russian brokered ceasefire collapsed last week.
Hospitals are overwhelmed with casualties, and medical workers expect many of the wounded to die from a lack of treatment, according to Mohammad Zein Khandaqani, a member of the Medical Council, which oversees medical affairs in the city’s opposition quarters.
“I’ve never seen so many people dying in one place,” he said Sunday from a hospital in the city. “It’s terrifying today. In less than one hour, the Russian planes have killed more than 50 people and injured more than 200.”
Conflicting casualty estimates are common in the aftermath of clashes and attacks in Syria, especially in Aleppo, which has been divided between government forces in the west and rebels in the east since fighting for control of the city began in mid-2012.
Rebels, meanwhile, shelled Masyaf, a government stronghold near the central city of Hama, for the second day in a row on Sunday, according to the Observatory.
Masyaf is home to a large number of Alawites, members of Assad’s sect. The Syrian leader has rallied Syria’s minority groups behind his government with fears of the Sunni-dominated rebellion.
Also on Sunday, a set of four towns, two besieged by government forces and two by rebels, were reached by aid convoys for the first time in nearly six months, the International Committee for the Red Cross announced.
The organization said it had reached 60,000 residents trapped in the towns of Madaya, Zabadani, Foua, and Kafraya.
And opposition fighters Sunday recaptured Handarat, a refugee camp on the northern edge of Aleppo, the day after they lost it to regime forces. Handarat is near Castello Road, a major supply route to opposition areas in eastern Aleppo.