© Sputnik/ Mikhail Alaeddin
The battle for Aleppo prompted several countries to call an urgent UN Security Council meeting.
An urgent UN Security Council meeting has been called to address the escalating violence in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Sunday, according to US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power who referred to a message from New Zealand's UN Mission. According to media reports, the meeting has been scheduled for 10 a.m.
Fighting in Aleppo intensified after the Syrian army declared an end to the week-long ceasefire on Friday, blaming militants for numerous violations that made the cessation of hostilities unreasonable.
Earlier on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that Aleppo had faced the most intense airstrikes since the start of the Syrian conflict, expressing dismay at the situation and the fate of civilians trapped in the city.
On September 9, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov brokered a ceasefire in Syria that took effect three days later. The agreement called for unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid and stipulated that only designated terror groups would be targeted in military strikes.
Aleppo has been under siege by militant groups, including Jaish al-Islam, Ahrar ash-Sham and Jabhat Fatah al Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front. The city has seen intense fighting over the past few months, with the Syrian army and local militia forces managing to encircle large groups of militants in the eastern districts of the city.
Comment: The all-out information/humanitarian offensive is now on. Expect more propaganda-based hysterics now that the ceasefire has failed and Russia/Syria go all-out in their war on terrorists in Syria. Some
choice quotes about the UNSC meeting:
At the start of UN Security Council meeting, the UN's top envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, accused the government of unleashing "unprecedented military violence" against civilians in Aleppo.
His remarks came as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group, said at least 23 people were killed in government air strikes on September 25 in eastern Aleppo, which is controlled by rebel forces.
...
"Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war," said Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the UN, during the emergency meeting. "It is Russia's actions that have prolonged the conflict, prolonged the suffering," said Matthew Rycroft, British ambassador to the UN.
...
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 115 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in Syrian and Russian bombardment of eastern Aleppo since September 22.
Washington and its European allies said before the meeting that the burden was on Moscow, a key ally of Assad, to save the truce that fell apart.
France's foreign minister said Russia and Iran will be guilty of war crimes if they do not pressure Assad to stop the violence.
Ban Ki-moon is "
appalled by the chilling military escalation". The hypocrisy is stunning.
SOHR is a complete joke. It is the brainchild of Rami Abdul Rahman, a 3-times convicted criminal in Syria who fled to Britain in 2000, gained political asylum, opened a pizza parlor, and now supplies, in lieu of actual reporting, second- and third-hand reports from Syria that constitute the bulk of 'facts' that go into the Western media's narratives about the situation there.
And he does all this from his home in Coventry, England. So when you see the Western media citing his outfit, bear in mind that he's a criminal-turned-informant for British intelligence with an axe to grind against the Syrian government, and thus has mutual interest in deposing al-Assad and opening the country up to predation by criminals of like mind.
See also:
Comment: The all-out information/humanitarian offensive is now on. Expect more propaganda-based hysterics now that the ceasefire has failed and Russia/Syria go all-out in their war on terrorists in Syria. Some choice quotes about the UNSC meeting: Ban Ki-moon is "appalled by the chilling military escalation". The hypocrisy is stunning.
SOHR is a complete joke. It is the brainchild of Rami Abdul Rahman, a 3-times convicted criminal in Syria who fled to Britain in 2000, gained political asylum, opened a pizza parlor, and now supplies, in lieu of actual reporting, second- and third-hand reports from Syria that constitute the bulk of 'facts' that go into the Western media's narratives about the situation there.
And he does all this from his home in Coventry, England. So when you see the Western media citing his outfit, bear in mind that he's a criminal-turned-informant for British intelligence with an axe to grind against the Syrian government, and thus has mutual interest in deposing al-Assad and opening the country up to predation by criminals of like mind.
See also: