Aleppo risks "total destruction". UN Security Council emergency meeting

The meeting requested by Russia. Videoconference with special envoy for Syria about latest, alarming developments. Staffan de Mistura believes that if the current situation continues  the city is likely to be totally devastated by Christmas, with thousands of dead and wounded civilians. Appeal to jihadists of al Nusra Front "Ready to personally accompany you " outside the city.

 

Damascus (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At the request of Russia, the United Nations Security Council meets today, in New York, to discuss the Syrian conflict. A meeting called for by the Kremlin after the alarming news reported by UN Special Envoy for Syria. According to Staffan de Mistura, the east of Aleppo risks "total destruction" in the coming months if the joint Moscow and Damascus air campaign in continues. De Mistura, linked by videoconference from Geneva (Switzerland), will outline the situation on the ground.

Yesterday, the UN special envoy to Syria described the situation in Aleppo, the former economic and commercial capital that today is divided into two areas: the eastern one in the hands of the rebels and jihadis, home to 275 thousand people; and the West, with over one million inhabitants, controlled by the government in Damascus.

The eastern sector is cause for particular concern, in recent weeks the subject of a massive campaign of aerial bombardment unleashed by Russian and Syrian jets, while on the ground the Damascus advances army in rebel areas. According to de Mistura within two months the area could suffer a "total destruction" and thousands of people - mostly civilians - will be killed.

So he has appealed to the leaders of Syria and Russia, not to “destroy” the city in their search to eliminate the rebel militias and jihadist groups. This has led to Moscow's decision to call an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

"Thousands of Syrian civilians, not terrorists - added the top United Nations diplomat - will be killed and many others wounded." This is what "the world will see, as we prepare to celebrate the Christmas holidays, or year-end, if [the violence] continue with this magnitude."

He finally added that the United Nations will not remain "passive, resigned" in witnessing another genocide, as happened in the past in Srebrenica or Rwanda.

The UN and international diplomatic efforts - so far without great results with the exception of brief periods of truce - aims to stem a five-year conflict that has caused, according to the latest estimates, more than 300 thousand deaths (of which 87 thousand civilians) and millions of refugees. In Aleppo alone in the last two weeks 376 people have died and 1,266 others were injured.

The Syrian Emergency has also given rise to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster, which has involved the nations of the region touching the shores of the Mediterranean.

In response to the UN Special Envoy’s words, Russia and Syria stipulate that their military effort is aimed at eradicating the presence of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham militiamen from Aleppo, known in the past as the Nusra Front, the local offshoot of al Qaeda . But as reported by de Mistura of 8 thousand fighters present in the northern metropolis, only 900 are part of the Nusra Front.

The diplomat has also offered to "accompany them physically" and "in person" outside the city, if that can serve to alleviate the plight of the population. Speaking directly to the militants, he said: "If you decide to leave with dignity ... I am ready to accompany you physically in person", to put an end to the bombing and allow the entry of humanitarian aid to be delivered to an exhausted population.

Finally, de Mistura addressed a personal warning to Syria and Russia. History will judge you, he concluded, if you continue to use the presence of jihadists in Aleppo "as an excuse to destroy an entire city."

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