UNITED NATIONS: Rival resolutions on Syria backed by the West and Russia were defeated in the U.N. Security Council on Saturday, offering no relief to the besieged city of Aleppo and leaving the key powers even more divided over a course of action in the war-ravaged country.
Russia vetoed a French-drafted resolution demanding an immediate halt to the bombing campaign the Syrian government and Russia are carrying out against rebel-held districts in Aleppo. The rival Russian draft, which made no mention of a bombing halt, was rejected because it failed to get the minimum nine “yes” votes needed for approval by the 15-member council.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current rotating council president, said before the votes that members were engaging in “one of the strangest spectacles” in the Security Council, because they were meeting knowing neither resolution would be adopted.
“This waste of time is inadmissible,” he said.
The votes reflected the deep divisions in the U.N.’s most powerful body that is charged with ensuring international peace and security but has failed to take action to end the more than 5-year Syrian conflict, which has killed over 300,000 people and displaced millions.
The French-backed resolution received 11 “yes” votes, two “no” votes from Russia and Venezuela, and abstentions from China and Angola. The Russian resolution received four “yes” votes, nine “no” votes, and two abstentions.
It was the fifth veto by Russia of a Western-backed resolution aimed at ending the Syrian conflict.
When Syria’s U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari started speaking after the votes, a number of ambassadors walked out, including the representatives of Britain, France, Ukraine and the United States.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who addressed the session before the vote on the French resolution, warned that the continued bombing of Aleppo was killing civilians and destroying hospitals and schools — “and has nothing to do with combatting terrorism,” as Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and its close ally Russia contend.
Meanwhile Saturday, UNICEF’s representative in Syria called for an end to the violence that has beset northern Aleppo, causing “dire” humanitarian and psychological impacts on both sides of the divided city.
U.N. agencies are on “standby” to deliver needed assistance, Hanaa Singer of the U.N.’s children agency told the Associated Press.
Syrian state media and a Syria monitoring group said pro-government troops advanced in a northern district of eastern Aleppo, wrestling control from rebel fighters in their latest push into the besieged area.
Singer said conditions in besieged Aleppo are “terribly dire,” with hospitals hit, doctors overwhelmed, and over 100 children killed in bombings since Sept. 19.