West calls for talks resumption to end Syrian war
AFP
Western powers called yesterday for the resumption of talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime and the opposition in a bid to end a war that has cost more than 300,000 lives, reports AFP from Paris. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who attended talks in Paris with the opposition, said the regimes indiscriminate bombing of Aleppo amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity and he called for Russia and Assads other backers Iran to help end it. With regime forces pursuing an onslaught on rebel-held areas of Aleppo assisted by Russian air power, the Western powers and Gulf states held discussions with opposition representative Riad Hijab.
Afterwards, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: We need to tie down the conditions for a genuine political transition, and negotiations must resume on a clear basis within the framework of the UN resolution 2254. That resolution sets out a roadmap for ending the five-year-old Syria war. Ayrault said the opposition offered to take part without conditions. But a diplomatic source said that the opposition required a political transition in Syria before it would agree to take part.
When the two sides staged fruitless talks in Geneva in April the subject of a transition was not even among the issues discussed.
Germany meanwhile urged the regime and its military backers to allow civilians to leave shattered Aleppo. We demand that the regime, but also Iran and Russia, let people leave the conflict zone, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
Another report from Aleppo add: Air strikes pummelled the shrinking rebel enclave in Aleppo on Saturday as US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian regimes indiscriminate bombing amounted to crimes against humanity. Western powers meeting in Paris called for the resumption of peace talks and for civilians to be allowed to leave Aleppo, where tens of thousands have already fled a fierce regime offensive.
The diplomatic flurry came as a US-backed alliance announced it would launch the second phase of its battle for the Islamic State groups de facto Syrian capital Raqa further east. The regimes more than three-week-old assault aimed at retaking all of Aleppo has triggered mounting international outrage.
The indiscriminate bombing by the regime violates rules of law, or in many cases, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, Kerry said after the talks in Paris, urging Russia to do its utmost to bring it to a close.
US and Russian officials meanwhile were to gather in Geneva for what Kerry described as a bid to stop the city from being absolutely, completely, destroyed.
Once the beating heart of Syrias industrial and commercial industries, Aleppo has witnessed some of the most brutal violence of the countrys nearly six-year war. In less than a month, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have overrun around 85 percent of east Aleppo, a rebel stronghold since 2012. The UNs Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the world is watching the last steps in the Aleppo battle and evacuating civilians must be a priority. Air strikes and regime rocket fire battered the last remaining rebel districts Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
