Divided UN council fails to act to ‘save Aleppo’

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – Russia on Saturday vetoed a UN draft resolution demanding an end to the bombing of Aleppo, but its own rival measure on a truce in Syria’s war-battered city was rejected.

 

The failure of the two resolutions deepened divisions at the Security Council between Damascus ally Moscow and the Western powers backing opposition rebels in the war.

 

It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block UN action to end the five-year war in Syria, which has claimed 300,000 lives.

 

As the council meeting got underway, the Syrian regime pressed its assault on rebel-held areas of Aleppo, where 125,000 people are living under siege and facing almost-daily heavy bombing.

 

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault urged the council to take immediate action to save Aleppo from being destroyed by the Russia-backed Syrian bombing campaign.

 

“What is at stake today is first and foremost the fate of Aleppo and its people,” Ayrault told the council.

 

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