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Russia Rejects U.S. Demands for Resumption of Syria Cease-Fire Russia Rejects John Kerry’s Demands on Syria, Accusing U.S. of Promoting Terror
(about 9 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The Russian government vowed on Thursday to continue its operations in Syria, dismissing Secretary of State John Kerry’s threat to cut off talks if the bombardment of Aleppo continued. BEIRUT, Lebanon — Russia escalated its anti-American invective Thursday in the deadlocked diplomacy over the Syrian war, dismissing a threat by Secretary of State John Kerry to halt talks and accusing his spokesman of abetting global terrorism — including against Russian military personnel in Syria.
“We have more than once suggested 48-hour pauses in order to ensure humanitarian access,” Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, told reporters in Moscow on Thursday. “But our American colleagues are totally fixated on demands of a seven-day pause for reasons that only they know.” The Russian response came as United Nations officials warned that 600 wounded civilians in the rebel-held districts of the divided northern city of Aleppo must be evacuated and that food is nearly exhausted for the 275,000 residents trapped there.
Mr. Kerry told his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, on Wednesday that the United States would scrap plans for joint military action against jihadist targets unless the Russian and Syrian militaries stopped bombing the rebel-held districts of Aleppo, which was once Syria’s largest city and its commercial center. The residents have been pummeled for the past week by Syrian and Russian airstrikes, including by powerful bombs that can pulverize underground shelters. The top emergency relief official for the United Nations, Stephen O’Brien, told the Security Council on Thursday that Aleppo faced a “humanitarian catastrophe unlike any we have witnessed in Syria.”
As many as 600 wounded people in the city cannot be treated adequately because of a shortage of drugs and medicines, the United Nations deputy special envoy for Syria, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, said in Geneva on Thursday. “There are now no more than 35 doctors, covering a population of at least 275,000,” he said. The Russians, the main military allies of President Bashar al-Assad, offered 48-hour pauses in Aleppo to permit humanitarian access, an idea that Western diplomats and United Nations officials have rejected as impractical and meaningless. Mr. Kerry has demanded a return to the cessation of hostilities agreement he negotiated with Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov on Sept. 9, which collapsed a week later.
Hundreds of people awaited medical evacuations, while there are food rations left for only one-quarter of the population in eastern Aleppo, he said. “The bombing must stop, civilians must be protected and the cessation of hostilities must be restored,” Mr. Ramzy said. In some of his strongest criticism of Russia over the Syria conflict, Mr. Kerry said Wednesday that unless the Syrians and Russians quit their barrage of Aleppo and restored the Sept. 9 agreement, the United States would suspend talks and scrap a plan to collaborate with Russia on targeting jihadist fighters in Syria that both powers regard as terrorist threats.
The United Nations’ emergency relief coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, told the Security Council that Aleppo faces a “humanitarian catastrophe unlike any we have witnessed in Syria,” with at least 320 civilians killed in the last seven days alone. The government has intensified its blockade on aid throughout the country, he said. Russian officials not only rejected that warning on Thursday, but also angrily denounced Mr. Kerry’s spokesman, John Kirby, for having suggested that Russia’s prosecution of the Syria conflict would come back to haunt the Kremlin, leading to terrorist attacks on Russian targets and Russian soldiers’ returning home in “body bags.”
Mr. Kerry wants to revive a Sept. 9 cease-fire deal that fell apart after an airstrike that the United States said was aimed at jihadists but that instead killed dozens of Syrian soldiers; an attack on a humanitarian aid convoy for which the United States blamed Russia, despite Kremlin denials; and the relentless bombardment of rebel territory in the city. Most of the rebels in Aleppo battling the government of President Bashar al-Assad are not connected to jihadist groups like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda. Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a spokesman for Russia’s Defense Ministry, said in a statement that Mr. Kirby’s comments were “the most frank confession by the U.S. side so far that the whole ‘opposition’ ostensibly fighting a ‘civil war’ in Syria is a U.S.-controlled terrorist international,” a Soviet-era term for a global organization.
Analysts say that Russia and Syria may be targeting civilians in Aleppo to erode the rebels’ legitimacy by driving them into the hands of extremists. That would give Russia more leverage in diplomatic talks and persuade civilians to stop supporting the rebels. Any dialogue with the Americans, General Konashenkov said, “must exclude even a hint at threatening our servicemen and Russian citizens.”
Mr. Ryabkov suggested a 48-hour pause in fighting, an offer the Americans are likely to reject. They have said that seven days is the minimum needed for a meaningful cease-fire. The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, called Mr. Kirby’s remarks a “thinly disguised invitation to use terrorism as a weapon against Russia” and denounced what he called “the current American administration’s de facto support for terrorism.”
“A seven-day pause is a time period that is quite sufficient for terrorist groups to take necessary steps in order to stock up on supplies, allow terrorists to rest and regroup forces,” Mr. Ryabkov said. “It is as though the duration was specially chosen to tackle such tasks, and consequently, a seven-day period is unacceptable for us.” The acrimony between Russia and the United States extended to a Security Council meeting on Thursday, where the American ambassador, Samantha Power, told reporters that “what Assad and Russia are doing in Aleppo is soul-shattering.”
The Syrian opposition and its international backers counter that the pro-government forces are the ones that have used cease-fires to regroup. Aleppo residents and rescue workers have reported the use of heavy-duty penetrating “bunker buster” bombs and incendiary cluster munitions in the rebel-held eastern section of the city, where children are almost half the population.
“What Assad and Russia are doing in Aleppo is soul-shattering,” the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said on Thursday. Save the Children, the international charity, said Thursday that more than 300 children had been killed or wounded there over the past five days.
Russia, she said, is no longer only supporting Syrian troops but also “fighting alongside the regime, bombing alongside the regime, exceeding in brutality what we have seen from the regime in the life of this war.” Bombs hit two hospitals in eastern Aleppo and a bakery where people were lining up for bread on Wednesday, residents said, and two bakeries outside the city were struck on Thursday. There were unconfirmed reports on Thursday that Syrian soldiers and pro-government militia members were massing for a ground invasion of east Aleppo.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, “Assad and Russia are unleashing a savagery against people they call terrorists,” Ms. Power said. “Children are not terrorists. Bread lines – and the individuals within bread lines – are not terrorists. Rescue workers are not terrorists. Hospital workers are not terrorists.”
chided a State Department spokesman, John Kirby, who said on Wednesday that Russia had an interest in stopping extremist groups like the Islamic State because they could attack “Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities.” Mr. Peskov called the statement a “thinly disguised invitation to use terrorism as a weapon against Russia” and denounced what he called “the current American administration’s de facto support for terrorism.” Analysts say that Russia and Syria may be targeting civilians in Aleppo to erode the rebels’ legitimacy by driving them into the hands of extremists. Such a move could give Russia more leverage in diplomatic talks and perhaps persuade civilians to stop supporting the rebels.
As the diplomatic skirmishing continued, so did the unremitting suffering in Aleppo. Witnesses reached by phone in eastern Aleppo described harrowing assaults on the two hospitals.
Two hospitals in the rebel-held eastern part of the divided city were hit by Syrian government or Russian airstrikes on Wednesday. Around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, artillery shells hit a hospital known as M2. One struck an ambulance area, killing two patients and wounding three staff members. Other patients were evacuated on foot. About 10 minutes later, another hospital, known as M10, was hit by what witnesses described as an airstrike.
Around 4 a.m., artillery shells hit a hospital known as M2. One hit an ambulance entrance, killing two patients and wounding three staff members. Other patients were evacuated on foot. About 10 minutes later, another hospital, known as M10, was hit by what witnesses described as an airstrike. Both hospitals stopped treating patients because their generators were knocked out, but employees remained to bandage the wounded and direct them to other hospitals.
Both hospitals stopped treating patients because their generators were knocked out, but employees remained to bandage the wounded and redirect them to other hospitals. Muhammad al-Ahmad, a radiology nurse at M10, said he had been awakened from a short nap by explosions and had rushed to evacuate 15 patients when the ventilators and other equipment stopped. One patient, a child, died.
Muhammad al-Ahmad, a radiology nurse at M10, said he had been awakened from a short nap by explosions and had rushed to evacuate 15 patients when the ventilators and other equipment stopped working. One patient, a child, died.
“There was dust everywhere,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe. My ears were buzzing. It was complete darkness around.”“There was dust everywhere,” he said. “I couldn’t breathe. My ears were buzzing. It was complete darkness around.”
Early Thursday, two bakeries outside Aleppo were hit by aerial attacks after a strike that damaged a bakery in the city the day before. The bakery attacked on Wednesday was hit by a projectile that killed six customers. Photographs showed bodies in the street, covered in gray dust like the rubble around them.
The bakery attacked on Wednesday was hit by a projectile that killed six people who had been waiting for bread, already scarce. Photographs showed bodies in the street, covered in gray dust like the rubble around them. “My house was destroyed today,” said Zaher al-Zaher, an activist and citizen journalist in the city. At 7 a.m. on Wednesday, he said, his mother woke him warning that an incendiary bomb, which can burn concrete, had fallen on the balcony and set the house afire.
“My house was destroyed today,” said Zaher al-Zaher, an activist and citizen journalist in the city. At 7 a.m. on Wednesday, he said, his mother woke him from a nap, warning that an incendiary bomb, which can burn concrete, had fallen on the balcony and set the house on fire.
“We all left running,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen walls on fire.”“We all left running,” he said. “It’s the first time I’ve seen walls on fire.”
On Thursday, activists reported that Zilal Ibrahim al-Salhani, a 23-year-old university student, had been sentenced to death by a military court. The human rights group Amnesty International had reported her detention in 2012 and expressed fear that she would be subjected to torture and other mistreatment.On Thursday, activists reported that Zilal Ibrahim al-Salhani, a 23-year-old university student, had been sentenced to death by a military court. The human rights group Amnesty International had reported her detention in 2012 and expressed fear that she would be subjected to torture and other mistreatment.