Representative of the Syrian Coalition in the United Nations Najib Ghadbian condemned Russia’s vetoing of a draft UN Security Council resolution calling for the imposition of a 7-day cease-fire in Aleppo so that humanitarian aid could reach the city’s besieged eastern neighborhoods.
Ghadhbian on Monday said that Russia’s use of its veto power in the UN Security Council was not surprising as Moscow has aided and abetted the Assad regime in its war crimes across Syria over the past 5 years. The veto Russia used on Monday was just a new attempt to shield Bashar al-Assad from justice and to enable it to carry on with its genocidal onslaught on Aleppo, he added.
The UN Security Council on Monday failed to pass the draft resolution drafted by New Zealand, Spain and Egypt.
Ghadhbian criticized the failure of the UN Security Council to save lives in Syria, stressing that it is now up to the Member States to stop the massacres being committed by the Assad regime through the imposition of a no-bombing zone as well as the launch of airdrops of aid to Aleppo.
Aleppo and its countryside have been subjected to ferocious onslaught by the Assad regime and Russian forces since November 15. Over 900 people, mostly women and children, have so far been killed and thousands more injured in the ongoing bombing campaign on the city and its countryside.
The relentless aerial bombardment forced all schools and hospitals in eastern Aleppo to close down and destroyed two civil defense centers.
Human Rights Watch also condemned the veto. “Countries on and off the Security Council should immediately work to convene an emergency Special Session of the General Assembly to explore, among other things, ways to hold perpetrators of serious crimes in Syria to account,” Louis Charbonneau, UN director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement on Monday.
“Russia seems to not want any interference with its & Iran’s joint military ops with Syria military in Aleppo, despite cost to civilians,” Charbonneau added.
This is the sixth time Russia uses its veto power in the UN Security Council on Syria since 2011, and the fifth for China. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office + Agencies)
