young boy waves the Syrian flag
© Youssef Karwashan / AFPA young boy waves the Syrian flag as residents in a government-held area of Aleppo gather in the street during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters and their families from rebel-held neighbourhoods in Syria's northern embattled city on December 15, 2016.
Channeling US displeasure with the Syrian government regaining control of Aleppo from militants, Secretary of State John Kerry called for a truce and placed much of the responsibility on Russia, while staying silent about US influence with Syrian rebels.

Speaking to reporters at the State Department on Thursday, Kerry accused the Syrian government of "continued, relentless and inexcusable attacks... directed at civilian population of Aleppo, including women, children, humanitarian workers and medical staff."

"What we want in Aleppo right now... is an immediate and verifiable, durable cessation of hostilities," he said. "We want safe passage, corridors of evacuation... for both civilians and fighters who choose to evacuate the city."


Comment: The lies coming out of the mouths of the US puppets are really blatant and speaks to their desperation of their propaganda falling apart.
"We've been trying to get food and medicines and other humanitarian aid into Aleppo since the summer and we had absolutely zero cooperation from Russia," Fallon said.

"On the contrary, we've seen aid convoys attacked and we've seen hospitals bombed and a barbaric attitude to the plight of civilians in Aleppo," he added.

Carter sided with Fallon in blaming the Syrian government and Russia for their failing aid deliveries.

"The international community, the United Nations have been trying to get humanitarian aid and there is no reason why it can't be done. But it has not been done because the regime and the Russians have not permitted it to be done," Carter alleged.

The allegations contradicted the statement earlier made by the UN humanitarian adviser on Syria, Jan Egeland, who welcomed Russia's cooperation during the ongoing withdrawal of militants from Aleppo.

"We are now getting around the clock help from the Russian military and we think we will be able to monitor and assist those evacuations that should follow," Egeland said.

Kerry was seemingly unaware that hostilities in Aleppo had already ceased, as the last of the militants accepted the surrender terms offered by the Syrian Army and agreed to be evacuated.

While noting that a convoy of 1,000 people is already on its way to Turkey, Kerry brought up "reports that a convoy with injured people was fired upon by the regime." Residents of Aleppo, however, told RT's Lizzie Phelan that such reports appeared before any vehicles left the militant-controlled neighborhood, and that they heard no gunfire whatsoever.


Comment: Actually it is the rebels violating the surrender terms: East Aleppo evacuations halted after militants break truce terms


The Secretary of State also cited rumors that "Syrian men ages 18-40 have been conscripted... or have gone missing," which he termed "despicable and contrary to the laws of war and to basic human decency."

"What has happened in Aleppo already is unconscionable," Kerry said, but with tens of thousands of people concentrated in a very small area, the world is watching that it doesn't "turn into another Srebrenica."

After that enclave changed hands during the 1992-95 Bosnian War, thousands of Bosnian Muslim civilians were evacuated by the Bosnian Serb forces, but the West has been accusing exclusively the Serbs of genocide over the killing of thousands of "men and boys".

"If Aleppo falls completely and people are slaughtered in that small area, it would be even harder to bring people around," to a peaceful solution, Kerry said. "The fall of Aleppo, should it happen, would not end the war."


Comment: Grasping at straws. The residents are not being "slaughtered" much less being shot at by Syrian or Russian forces. It is the US' rebels doing the slaughter and maiming in Aleppo. If we replace Kerry's term "people" with rebels, maybe that explains what he is worried about.


Kerry placed the responsibility for the bloodshed in Syria solely on the Syrian government - or "Assad regime," in his words - and its Russian ally. At the NATO ministerial summit on December 6, however, he admitted the "opposition" militants backed by the US, Turkey and Gulf Arab states "would not buy into a ceasefire."

On Saturday, following a meeting with European and Arab foreign ministers in Paris, Kerry likewise admitted that the militants had taken civilian hostages and obstructed humanitarian deliveries - both previously blamed on the Syrian government and Russia.

"It is true that there have been some occasions where certain elements of the opposition have threatened people who were going to leave [Aleppo], and in some cases prevented humanitarian assistance from being delivered," he said.

On Wednesday, Kerry said the US was demanding of Damascus and Moscow to enable full access to humanitarian aid "throughout Syria."


Comment: Russia and Syria has done that but get no response from the US or the UK: UK and US claim Russia 'preventing' Aleppo aid as Red Cross and UN speak of close cooperation


Washington has maintained since 2012 that Syrian President Bashar Assad had "lost all legitimacy" to rule the country and that any settlement of the conflict needs to see him removed from power. While not using the well-worn phrase "Assad must go" on Thursday, Kerry did call for "a Syrian-led political process... resulting in a new and more representative government."