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Under Pressure Over Aleppo Siege, Russia Hints at Seeking Deal ...
New York Times-20 hours ago
Acknowledging an unfolding disaster in Syria's besieged city of Aleppo, where roughly two million people are trapped, Russia conceded on ...
Russia, US in active talks on situation in Aleppo — Russian defense ...
International-TASS-11 hours ago
International-TASS-11 hours ago
Acknowledging an unfolding disaster in Syria’s besieged city of Aleppo, where roughly two million people are trapped, Russia
conceded on Monday that daily three-hour halts in fighting that it had
proposed last week were insufficient, possibly opening the door to
longer pauses.
Russia
also suggested that it was close to an agreement on a military
collaboration with the United States to attack Islamic State fighters in
the Aleppo area as part of a solution. Such a joint effort would be a
new level of cooperation between the two powers in seeking a way out of
the five-year-old Syria war, in which the Russians and Americans
basically back opposite sides.
The developments suggested that Russia wished to avoid the appearance of responsibility for the suffering in Aleppo, the once-thriving commercial epicenter of northern Syria that has been a strategic battleground for much of the war.
A
week ago, insurgents embedded in the eastern part of Aleppo broke a
stalemate against Syrian military forces and their Russian allies,
effectively blocking government-held western Aleppo and isolating the
entire city.
Since
then, Syrian and Russian air bombardments of insurgent-held
neighborhoods in Aleppo have left dozens of people dead. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said on Sunday that
the destruction was extraordinary even for Aleppo.
What I Saw in Syria
Foreign
Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia said he was aware that the
three-hour pauses in Aleppo fighting could not address what outside aid
groups have described as a desperate need for basic relief supplies. At
the same time, he expressed concern that longer pauses would be misused
by combatants regarded by the Russians as terrorists.
“The
main issue is not that there’s anyone unwilling to alleviate the
humanitarian situation, but it is of utmost importance that terrorists
would not be getting reinforced with militants, guns and munition
supplies under the humanitarian aid disguise,” Russian news agencies quoted Mr. Lavrov as saying at a news conference with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, at Urals Federal University in the city of Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Mr.
Steinmeier was quoted as stressing what he called Russia’s “special
responsibility for Aleppo, especially when it comes to providing
humanitarian access,” and he urged a longer cease-fire.
Russian
news agencies also quoted Defense Minister Sergei K. Shoigu as saying
that Russia and the United States were close to an agreement on a joint
fight against the Islamic State in Aleppo. Such an agreement, he said,
could help “bring peace to this long-suffering land and help people
return to their homes.”
American officials had no immediate comment on his remarks, and it was unclear how such a joint effort could be undertaken.
Political
analysts of the Syrian conflict said they were skeptical. “I cannot see
where the Russians and Americans will find common ground on Aleppo,”
Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma and the
author of the Syria Comment blog,
wrote in an email. “Perhaps the Russians are simply playing for time
and trying to deflect possible Western or regional backlash?”
Opinion: Could Different Borders Have Saved the Middle East?
The United States supports an array of armed opposition groups
fighting the forces of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. The
Russians, Mr. Assad’s longtime allies, have been helping the Syrian
government with airstrikes and bombings that target many of those same
groups.
But
both Russia and the United States oppose the Islamic State, the
extremist organization that has occupied parts of Syria and Iraq. Russia
and the United States also lead the International Syria Support Group, a multinational diplomatic effort that has been trying for three months to create the conditions for peace talks.
A
German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Berlin, Sawsan Chebli, suggested
that Mr. Steinmeier had been more blunt with Mr. Lavrov, exhorting
Russia to “take responsibility and avoid a catastrophe” in Aleppo.
A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel
of Germany, Steffen Seibert, also made a strong appeal for humanitarian
corridors, and said Ms. Merkel had received a personal appeal from one
of the 30 or so doctors left in Aleppo.
“There
is an immediate need” to halt the killing and dying in the city, Mr.
Seibert said. “We need this not for a few hours,” but more permanently
and under United Nations supervision, he said.
United
Nations officials and outside aid groups have warned of a humanitarian
calamity in Aleppo if the siege is not ended, calling for at least
48-hour weekly humanitarian pauses so food and water can be delivered.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, added his voice on Monday, describing the fighting in Aleppo as “one of the most devastating conflicts in modern times.”
Correction: August 15, 2016
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to a German official who was speaking on behalf of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The official, Sawsan Chebli, is a woman.
An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to a German official who was speaking on behalf of Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The official, Sawsan Chebli, is a woman.
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