Russia threatened with war crimes probe over Syria

Syrian activists say several civilians have been killed in renewed airstrikes on opposition areas in the contested city of Aleppo.

Hundreds of airstrikes by Syrian government forces rained down in eastern Aleppo over the weekend, killing more than 100 people according to volunteer medical service Syria Civil Defense.

“I’ve never seen so many people dying in once place”, he said from a hospital in the city.

Activists say rescue operations are hard in Aleppo because of the constant presence of jets in the sky. Diplomats exchanged fiery words during the session.

The US Ambassador to the United Nations accused Russian Federation of engaging in barbarism in Syria.

His intervention prompted fresh recriminations between Russian Federation and the United States with USA ambassador Samantha Power accusing Moscow of “barbarism”.

Moscow’s support for attacks by Mr Assad’s forces “blatantly contradicts Russia’s claim that it supports a diplomatic resolution”, the United States and European ministers said in a joint statement on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Vitaly Churkin, Russian ambassador to the United Nations, said that “bringing peace is nearly an impossible task now”, because he claimed the cease-fire was “sabotaged” by opposition groups supported by Washington. He also accused opposition armed groups of sabotaging the ceasefire.

That year, the British parliament and other western countries decided not to take military action against the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, despite evidence that he had been using chemical weapons against civilians.

UNITED NATIONS-The Security Council held an emergency meeting on Sunday on what diplomats called an unprecedented acceleration of fighting in Aleppo in terms of numbers, scale and scope.

Troops, along with militia allies, seized control of the Handarat Palestinian refugee camp, a few kilometres north of Aleppo, only for rebel forces to counterattack hours later.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 23 civilians had been killed by 6pm local time on Sunday.

“Otherwise, Russia and Iran will be complicit in war crimes committed in Aleppo”, Ayrault said as quoted in the ministry’s press release. Mr Key says Russia’s motives are closely intertwined with those of its leader, President Vladimir Putin.

“We should be looking at whether or not that targeting is done in the knowledge that those are wholly innocent civilian targets”.

During a United Nations Security Council debate, U.S. ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said history would not look kindly on those who turned their backs on the carnage.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has described the escalating violence in Aleppo as “chilling” and warned that the use of advanced weaponry in the city could amount to a war crime.

How critical is the city of Aleppo in Syria’s war?

A ceasefire that was supposed to last a week, came to an abrupt end less than a day in September 18 when a United Nations aid convoy attempting to provide humanitarian relief for Aleppo was attacked, killing 20 people.

The meeting, which lasted about three hours, was called jointly by the U.S., France and the U.K.in the wake of a collapsed cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russian Federation on September 9.

Before the dramatic walkout the three countries accused Russian Federation of backing the Syrian offensive while talking about a cessation of hostilities.

“No airstrikes were carried out against a humanitarian aid convoy in a southwestern suburb of Aleppo by Russian or Syrian aviation”.

De Mistura said Syrians and the worldwide community are swiftly losing any remaining hope with Washington and Moscow “unless we salvage what was agreed on”.

He said he believed the latest heavy offensive was an attempt to win battlefield gains that could strengthen Syria and Russia’s hands at the next round of talks.

The foreign ministers of the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy, along with the High Representative of the European Union, jointly condemned the offensive as “unacceptable”.