The UK and US have stepped up criticism of the role of Russia and Iran in Aleppo’s humanitarian disaster, amid uncertainty about whether the incoming Trump administration might enter into a deal with Vladimir Putin.Speaking in Washington DC, the US secretary of state John Kerry said that the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian allies were guilty of “indiscriminate and savage brutality against civilians”.
He urged the evacuation of both civilians and fighters from the rebel enclave in Aleppo, warning that the city could turn into “another Srebrenica”.
“What has already happened in Aleppo is unconscionable, but there remain tens of thousands of lives that are concentrated into a very small area of Aleppo, and the last thing anybody wants to see, and the world will be watching, is that small area turning into another Srebrenica,” he said, referring to the 1995 massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces.
Kerry said that further killings in Aleppo would put off further any hope of a wider peace deal. “We have arrived now at another …critical juncture. If Aleppo falls completely and people are slaughtered in that small area, it will be even harder to bring people around and it will not end the war.”
Theresa May also condemned Assad and his Russian and Iranian supporters last night. Speaking after a meeting in Brussels, the prime minister said the Damascus regime must allow the United Nations to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians from Aleppo following the bloody battle for the city, and promised an extra £20m of UK aid for Syria.
Her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, summoned the Iranian and Russian ambassadors to express his “profound concern” over the crisis. In two separate meetings on Thursday, Johnson told them that their countries had failed to uphold their obligations under international law, specifically by failing to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians during the months of the Aleppo siege.
Johnson said neither country “can expect any praise for allowing some people to escape the city at the final hours”. He added that it was vital that the UN now oversee the evacuation process, and that all civilians and non-combatants were not punished.
He said he was deeply disturbed by reports that some of those being evacuated had been taken away by government forces and that ambulances had been shot at.
The UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, who spoke at a press conference in London with his US counterpart, Ash Carter, was unequivocal in pinning the blame for the crisis on Putin.
“Aleppo is a tragedy of Russia’s making. But that is not going to distract us from our central purpose, which is to degrade and then defeat Daesh [the UK government’s preferred name for Islamic State] which, in the end, is a menace – a menace to the world as well as the people of Iraq and Syria,” Fallon said.
Fallon dismissed Trump’s statements on foreign policy on the campaign trail, saying it was important to focus on what he does. He added he was confident that Trump would maintain US support for the 68-country coalition fighting Isis in Iraq and Syria.
Before being elected, Trump had criticised the Obama administration for being too slow in dealing with Isis and hinted at entering into a deal with Putin.
Carter, echoing Fallon, said: “I can’t speak for the next administration. However, I do have confidence in the future of the coalition campaign. It’s logical. It makes sense. And, therefore, I expect that that logic will recommend itself to the future leadership of the United States, even as it has recommended itself to the current leadership.”
However, there is widespread scepticism in both the US and British defence establishments that the Trump administration will pursue a similar course.
Fallon and Carter were speaking at the end of a conference of 13 members of the coalition, including Iraq, held at the UK Foreign Office to discuss the next phase of the campaign against Isis.
Fallon said there was no future in Syria for its president, Bashar al-Assad, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, such as the retaking of Aleppo and the support he enjoys from Putin.
“We continue to work for a political settlement in Syria that is genuinely pluralist and can involve all sectors of Syrian society but not Assad himself,” Fallon said.
Carter said Russia had entered the conflict in Syria on the premise that it would back a political settlement and engage in the fight against Isis, and it had done neither. Humanitarian aid could have reached Aleppo, but Russia would not allow it, he added.
The US defence secretary, on his last visit to the UK before the Trump administration takes over, said Europe faced a threat from hybrid warfare and that had been witnessed in Ukraine, where Russia had been engaged in deniable operations. Steps were being taken to fortify Europe against such hybrid attacks, Carter said.
Fallon insisted the fight against Isis was on course despite a stalled Iraqi army push against the group in Mosul, and an offensive against the terror group in Raqqa still being at an early stage.
