Aleppo battered as Russia slams ‘unacceptable’ rhetoric
ALEPPO: Syria’s Aleppo faced worsening food and medical shortages and warplanes again pounded the city as Russia condemned what it cal led ‘unacceptable’ Western rhetoric after allegations of war crimes.
A fresh wave o f intense air strikes battered Aleppo’s opposition- controlled east, said an AFP correspondent in the city facing its worst violence in years.
During an emergency session of the UN Security Council, US ambassador Samantha Power accused Russia of ‘ barbarism’, while the British and French envoys went even further.
“Wa r c rime s a r e b ei n g commit ted here in Aleppo,” Francois Delattre of France said, while Britain’s envoy spoke of bunker- busting bombs and more sophisticated weaponry unleashing a “new hell” on Syrians.
“It is difficult to deny that Russia is partnering with the Syrian regime to carry out war crimes,” said Britain’s Matthew Rycroft.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov d e n ou n c e d “t h e ove r a l l unacceptable tone and rhetoric of the representatives of the United Kingdom and the United States, which can damage and harm our relations”.
Despite the exchange, the violence showed no signs of abating on the ground, with people in Aleppo saying food and vital medical supplies were dwindling to nothing.
What’s going on now in Syria is tragic, disgraceful, preventable.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said at least 12 people, including three children, were killed in Monday’s raids on several rebel- held districts.
“What’s going on now in Syria is tragic, disgraceful, preventable,” US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter, speaking at a nuclear base in North Dakota.
“The only way to end the Syrian civil war and give the Syrian people the respite from this savagery that they so deserve is a political resolution.”
Including the latest deaths, a total of 140 people, nearly all civilians, have been killed in Syrian and Russian raids on eastern Aleppo since late Thursday.
They include 23 children and 10 women, Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said Monday. — AFP
Ashton Carter, US Defence Secretary