One week after the collapse of a tenuous ceasefire, tensions between the United States and the Russian-Syrian alliance appear to be at a boiling point, while the consequence of that political fall-out is “nothing short of a human catastrophe.”
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Sunday, western powers blatantly accused Russia of “barbarism” and aiding the Syrian government in committing “war crimes.”
“What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism, it is barbarism,” said Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “Instead of pursuing peace, Russia and Assad make war. Instead of helping get life-saving aid to civilians, Russia and Assad are bombing the humanitarian convoys, hospitals, and first responders who are trying desperately to keep people alive,” Power told the 15-member council.
A spokesperson from the Kremin rebuffed those accusations as “unacceptable,” while the UNSC’s Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin reminded the council that it was the U.S.’ bombing of Syrian government forces on September 17th, and its failure to convince so-called “moderate” rebels to disassociate with the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (previously the al-Nusra Front), that “sabotaged” the peace effort.
This followed similar statements made by Syrian President Bashar Assad, who told the Associated Press last week that he “believe[s] that the United States is not genuine regarding having a cessation of violence in Syria.”
In a recent column, investigative reporter and historian Gareth Porter explained how it was the combination of the September 17th attack, the public split between the U.S. State Department and Pentagon on cooperating with Russia, and Obama’s refusal “to confront U.S. regional allies with the necessity to change course from reckless support for a jihadist-dominated opposition force” that ultimately “provoked the decision to end the ceasefire.”
Porter wrote:
It is not difficult to imagine, however, the fury with which both Russian and Syrian governments could have reacted to the US blows against both the Syrian army and the deal that had been sealed with Washington. They were certainly convinced that the US air attack on Syrian troops was a clear message that the Pentagon and US military leadership would not countenance any cooperation with Russia on Syria – and were warning of a Syrian campaign to come once Hillary Clinton is elected.
Attacking the aid convoy by some means was a brutal way of signalling a response to such messages. Unfortunately, the brunt of the response was borne by aid workers and civilians.