GLOBAL PRAYER NETWORK: Syria conflict ‘out of control’ warns Kerry amid push to save truce

Selasa, 03 Mei 2016

Syria conflict ‘out of control’ warns Kerry amid push to save truce

The Syrian war has raged for five years and claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people, including many Christians

By Dan Wooding, Founder of ASSIST News Service

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (ANS – May 2, 2016) -- US Secretary of State John Kerry has said the Syrian conflict is “in many ways out of control,” as he made a fresh push to salvage a fragile truce.

According to the BBC, Kerry said, after talks with UN and Arab diplomats in Geneva, that progress had been made on a plan to reduce violence in the second city of Aleppo. However, he said more work was needed and there was no guarantee of success.

“A cessation of hostilities has reduced fighting in Syria's five-year civil war but has unraveled in recent days,” said the BBC in a story. “About 250 people have reportedly been killed in Aleppo in the past nine days.”

On Monday, fresh government air strikes and artillery attacks on rebel-held districts and suburbs of Aleppo left at least three dead, according to activists.

The bloody Syrian war has raged for five years and claimed the lives of more than a quarter of a million people, including many Christians. Millions have fled the conflict, but nearly 18 million people still live in the war-torn country.

Mr. Kerry, speaking alongside UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura after a morning of talks in Geneva, said the conflict was “in many ways out of control and deeply disturbing.”

He said the nine-week-old cessation of hostilities had had “a profoundly positive effect” and saved many lives, but in recent weeks it had been “put to the test.”

Mr. Kerry said the goal was to reinforce a broad truce that could withstand further tests. He also promised more ceasefire monitors to track violations “24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

“We're trying to press this as fast as possible but I don't want to make any promises that can't be kept,” he said.

The US secretary of state said a recent air strike on a hospital in Aleppo, which he blamed on the Syrian government, was “unconscionable” but he added that both sides, the opposition and the regime, had contributed to “this chaos.”

The BBC stated that before leaving Geneva, Mr. Kerry spoke by telephone to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. Both men reiterated calls for all sides to observe the cessation of hostilities, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Mr. Kerry’s trip to Geneva was hastily arranged after Mr. de Mistura appealed to the US and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria's five-year conflict, to rescue the cessation of hostilities they brokered in February.

At the start of a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Monday, Mr. Kerry said he would press rebel groups in Aleppo to separate themselves from the powerful jihadist group, al-Nusra Front.

“This is what we're discussing, among other things. There are a number of different ways to approach it,” Mr. Kerry told reporters. “We're getting closer to a place of understanding. But we have some work to do.”

The Syrian government and Russia have said the Aleppo air strikes are targeting only al-Nusra, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda and is excluded from the cessation of hostilities along with the rival Islamic State group.

However, the opposition and the US have dismissed the claim, and accused the government of targeting civilians and rebels abiding by the cessation of hostilities.

“What is happening in Aleppo is an outrage. It's a violation of all humanitarian laws. It's a crime,” Mr. Jubeir said, adding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would be held accountable and would be removed from power either through a political process or by force.

The fighting in Aleppo has also seen dozens of civilians killed in rebel artillery attacks on government-held areas.

After at least 50 people were killed in a reported government air strike on a hospital last Wednesday night, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned that Aleppo was being “pushed further to the brink of humanitarian disaster.”

Large parts of the city have been destroyed and its infrastructure has been severely damaged, leaving civilians without water and electricity for months.

The talks in Geneva come a day after the Syrian military extended a “regime of calm” around the capital, Damascus, for another 24 hours.

More than three dozen rebel factions said on Saturday that they would not respect the truce, unless the government agreed to extend it over the whole country.

Dr. Muhammad Waseem Moaz, one of the last remaining pediatricians in rebel-held Aleppo, was killed in an air strike on Thursday of last week.

Charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said the attack on the al-Quds hospital left more than 50 people dead, including at least six medical staff.

But it was Dr. Moaz’s death in particular that has struck a nerve.

An emotional Facebook tribute posted by a colleague has now been shared more than 23,000 times.

In it, Dr. Hatem, the director of the Children’s Hospital in Aleppo, praised Dr. Moaz’s “humanity and bravery.”

He said that Dr. Moaz, 36, used to work at the Children’s Hospital during the day and then attend al-Quds hospital for emergencies in the evening.

The courageous doctor Is just one of so many innocent victims of a war that apparently has no end in sight.

Photo captions: 1) Syrian regime airstrikes hit opposition-held areas of the strategically located city Aleppo, April 28, 2016. (Photo: Syria Civil Defense). 2) Protesters in Lebanon staged a sit-in in solidarity with the people of Aleppo on Sunday (Reuters). 3) John Kerry. 4) Dr Muhammad Moaz, seen here treating a young child, was 36 when he was killed in an air strike (Syria Campaign). 5) Dan Wooding reporting for ANS outside the Kurdistan Parliament in Erbil, Northern Iraq.

About the writer: Dan Wooding, 75, is an award-winning winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for nearly 53 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS), and is the author of some 45 books. He also has a radio show and two TV shows, all based in Southern California, and has reported from all over the Middle East. His most recent trip was to Northern Iraq.