The US calls on Russia to halt airstrikes in Syria
Speaking at a Security Council meeting, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said that the ruthless attacks of the Russian Federation and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime must be stopped.
“The people who are behind these attacks should know that we, and the international community, monitor their actions, document their abuses and that one day, they will be brought to justice,” Power said.
She named five Syrian commanders, who, according to Washington, are involved in military attacks on cities, residential areas and civilian infrastructure. These actions can be considered war crimes.
“I know that today, when the situation favors them, these people feel their impunity. However, the same thing happened to Slobodan Milošević, Charles Taylor and numerous war criminals before them. Today’s atrocities are carefully documented, and the civilized world has a long memory,” Power continued.
She also read out the identification codes of four divisions of Syrian military intelligence, the intelligence division of Air Force Intelligence, Sednaya prison as well as the Tishreen and Harasta military hospitals, where people had allegedly been, and are still being, tortured.
Power said that the international community will monitor the commanders of these facilities and that one day, they will also be brought to justice.
Meanwhile, UN representatives have painted a grim picture of the destruction in Syria as a result of the airstrikes. “More than half of public hospitals and primary health centers are closed or are partially functioning,” the representative of the World Health Organization in Syria, Elizabeth Hoff, said at the meeting via videoconference.
“Almost two thirds of medical workers have left the country, the national production of medicines has decreased by two thirds and the vaccination rate has fallen by half,” Hoff noted.
As a result, many Syrians die not only due to injuries received during the conflict, but also because of preventable diseases. Hospitals and medical clinics appear to be the main targets of the airstrikes.
The Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, Vladimir Safronkov, cast doubt on the credibility of the UN data on the number of Syrians who were affected by the siege.
“If the purpose of these mathematical manipulations is to portray the Syrian Government as the main culprit for the sufferings of civilians, then it isn’t an appropriate approach,” the Russian diplomat said.
Safronkov stated that the Russian Air Force had ceased its airstrikes on Aleppo, and in a 10-kilometer radius around the city, on the 18th of October.