Russia Accuses U.S. of Politicizing Humanitarian Issue

Key members of the U.N. Security Council traded blame for the increasingly dire humanitarian situation in Aleppo at an an informal meeting on Monday, according to Reuters.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., spoke at the meeting, urging Russia “to stop facilitating these sieges and to use its influence to press the regime to end its sieges across Syria once and for all.”

Syrian government forces are responsible for nearly 80 percent of besieged areas in Syria, Power said.

In return, Russian deputy U.N. ambassador Vladimir Safronkov accused the U.S. and its allies of politicizing the humanitarian issue and, consequently, hindering the international community’s ability to prevent a siege in Aleppo.

“The propaganda and the emotional rhetoric, the unfounded accusations, the information campaign, means that we cannot move toward a political settlement in Syria,” Safronkov said.

The Russian official added that the U.S. should “admit that the main cause of all of the humanitarian problems in Syria is not the counter-terrorist actions by the legitimate government of Syria.”

U.N. Warns 2 Million Could Be Under Siege

The U.N. warned on Monday that more than 2 million people living in Aleppo could fall under complete siege as fighting rages in the divided city, Agence France Presse reported.

A rebel advance was able to break the month-long government siege on eastern Aleppo on Saturday. Continued government and Russian airstrikes on the area, however, have obstructed safe passage for the some 300,000 civilians who remain inside the opposition-held parts of the city.

During the weekend’s offensive, rebels were also able to seize a main government supply route, putting the more than 1 million residents of government-held Aleppo at risk of siege.

A U.N. statement called for a “humanitarian pause” to deliver aid, as fighting in the divided city continues. At least 130 civilians have been reportedly killed on both sides of Aleppo since the end of July.

“At a minimum, the U.N. requires a full-fledged cease-fire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses to reach the millions of people in need throughout Aleppo and replenish the food and medicine stocks, which are running dangerously low,” the U.N. statement read.

Emergency Responders Say Russia Is Using Incendiary Weapons in Syria

Russia is using incendiary thermite bombs to target civilian areas in Syria according to emergency responders, the Telegraph reported.

The White Helmets, a group of civil defense volunteers, said 10 people were killed Sunday night in a Russian airstrike on the rebel-held province of Idlib.

Russia is a signatory of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which prohibits the use of incendiary thermite bombs on civilian populations. Russia is a key ally of the Syrian government, which also reportedly participated in the airstrikes on Idlib Sunday night. Syria is not a signatory of the convention.

Incendiary weapons contain highly flammable materials, such as thermite, which cause extreme burns and fires that are difficult to put out.

Russian state media said Russian and Syrian air forces targeted Idlib on Sunday night with “heavy munitions.”

Recommended Reads:

• The New York Times: Erdogan and Putin Seek to Put Syria Rift in Past
• BBC News: U.K. Special Forces Pictured on the Ground in Syria
• Al-Monitor: Jordanians Worry Over New Syria Front
• Al-Jazeera: Ibrahim Delic: Bosnian Accused of Aiding ISIL in Syria
• The Washington Post: Iraqi, Lebanese Militias Deploy to Syria’s Aleppo