US threatens to end cooperation unless Russia stops Aleppo assault

ALEPPO, Syria: The United States threatened Wednesday to suspend its engagement with Russia over the conflict in Syria following escalating attacks on rebel-held parts of Aleppo city, including strikes on two hospitals.

UNchiefBanKi-moondenounced the attacks – which saw the two largest hospitals in Aleppo’s opposition-controlled east hit with air strikes and artillery fire – as ‘war crimes’.

President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and his ally Moscow have carried out a barrage of air strikes on eastern Aleppo since Syria’s regime announced a bid last week to retake all of the divided city.

Russia’s defence ministry said Moscow was prepared to relaunch talks with the United States on the crisis, but a Syrian opposition official said a political solution to the conflict was “no longer a viable option”.

Dozens of civilians have been killed, residential buildings have been reduced to rubble and residents of east Aleppo – already suffering under a government siege – are facing severe shortages.

The latest bombardment has been some of the worst in Syria’s five-year civil war, and comes after the failure of a short-lived ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States this month.

Moscow and Washington have traded blame over the truce’s collapse, with the US harshly criticising Russia’s participation in the Aleppo offensive.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Washington will end talks on the conflict unless Moscow halts the Aleppo assault.

Kerry said the burden was on Russia to stop the assault and ensure humanitarian aid access, his spokesman John Kirby said.

“The United States is making preparations to suspend US-Russia bilateral engagement on Syria unless Russia takes immediate steps to end the assault on Aleppo and restore the cessation of hostilities,” Kirby said. — AFP