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Russia Resumes Aleppo Bombings After Brief Pause

by VOA News

   Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday Russia and Syrian
   government forces will continue their bombing raids in Aleppo until
   rebels vacate the city.
   "After a humanitarian pause, [the strikes] have resumed and will
   continue for as long as the bandits are still in Aleppo," Lavrov told
   reporters while attending a security meeting in Hamburg, Germany.
   Lavrov's comments come just a day after he said the Syrian government
   had stopped all active military operations in eastern Aleppo. When
   asked about the seemingly contradictory statements Friday, Lavrov said:
   "I did not say that the military operations were completely stopped. I
   said they were suspended for a certain time to allow civilians wishing
   to leave to do so."
   "Everyone understands it, our American partners understand it," he
   added.

   Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addresses a press conference
   during the foreign ministers' meeting of the Organisation for Security
   and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Dec.
   9, 2016.

   Lavrov said he hoped there could be a permanent agreement reached soon,
   but said American diplomats were exhibiting "strange" behavior and
   accused them of backtracking on a proposal that would have allowed
   rebels to leave Aleppo if they laid down their weapons.
   "If the American experts do not change their mind again as they did a
   few days ago ... then there is a good chance for an agreement on a
   final settlement of the situation in Aleppo," he said.

   The U.N. General Assembly was to meet later Friday to vote on a
   non-binding resolution calling for an immediate end to sieges and a
   cessation of hostilities, as well as access for humanitarian aid
   convoys.

   FILE - France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault votes in favor of a
   draft resolution that demands an immediate end to air strikes and
   military flights over Syria's Aleppo city, during a meeting of Members
   of Security Council at the U.N. Headquarters in

   The assembly has been seeking ways to circumvent the divided 15-nation
   Security Council. In the latest show of disunity, on Monday, Russia and
   China blocked adoption of resolution calling for a seven-day cease-fire
   to get aid in and the sick and wounded out.
   "Well, sadly, I suspect it will be too little, too late," British
   ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters.

   "But what I hope that it will do is to demonstrate that there is a
   moral majority here," he said. "There are states who are not on the
   Security Council but have very strong views about peace and security
   and who are distressed that through a series of vetoes, the Security
   Council has failed to provide the unity necessary to change the
   situation in Syria."

   A Russian soldier checks a burned medical tent after rebels launched a
   mortar shell at a field hospital in west Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 5, 2016.

   A General Assembly resolution cannot force action, but it would send a
   message of moral outrage from the international community.
   President Bashar al-Assad said Thursday government soldiers will
   continue fighting until the five-year civil war is over. He did not
   mention the U.S.-Russian-U.N. talks but said there could be no
   expectation of a truce in Aleppo as long as rebels remain in the city.

   A victory for his regime in Aleppo would represent a huge step toward
   ending the prolonged conflict, Assad said in an interview with the
   state-owned newspaper al-Watan. He discussed the long-running effort to
   oust him from power one day after his forces gained control over
   three-quarters of Aleppo's Old City, which had been held by rebel
   forces since 2012.

   People, who evacuated the eastern districts of Aleppo, stand with their
   belongings in a government held area of Aleppo, Syria Dec. 9, 2016.

   Tens of thousands of civilians are thought to be trapped in eastern
   Aleppo despite a surge of refugees during the past two weeks heading
   for the relative safety of government-controlled western districts.

   Monitors last week estimated that 18,000 civilians in the east had
   moved into western neighborhoods, and more than 9,000 others into a
   Kurdish-controlled district.