GCC and Turkey condemn strikes on Aleppo

Foreign minister meeting in Riyadh condemn UN inaction as scores more killed this week in renewed bombing of Syrian city.

Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, attends a meeting between the GCC and Turkey in Riyadh on October 13, 2016. Faisal Al Nasser / Reuters

Riyadh // The GCC and Turkey on Thursday condemned indiscriminate air strikes on Aleppo in Syria and expressed deep regret at the UN’s inability to stop the raids, which have killed scores of people this week according to rescue workers and monitoring groups.

The joint statement came at the close of a meeting in the Saudi capital between Ankara’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his counterparts from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Russian and Syrian warplanes have been backing a large-scale offensive by Syrian government forces against rebel-controlled east Aleppo.

More than 70 civilians died on Tuesday and Wednesday alone in air strikes and regime artillery fire on eastern Aleppo districts, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights monitoring group said.

“Ministers condemned the escalation of military operations in Aleppo by the regime and its supporters through indiscriminate air raids against the civilian population and infrastructure,” the statement issued at the end of the GCC-Turkey talks said.

New Zealand, one of the 10 non-permanent UN Security Council members, on Wednesday presented a draft resolution demanding an end to air attacks in Aleppo.

The measure followed the failure of the council to adopt two resolutions on a ceasefire in Syria, one of which was vetoed by Russia during a stormy meeting at the weekend.

The GCC ministers and their Turkish counterpart “expressed their deep regret for the inability of the UN Security Council to make a decision to stop the air campaign and the bombing of civilians in Aleppo”.

Air strikes on Thursday killed 13 people in the rebel-held Aleppo districts of Al Kalaseh, Bustan Al Qasr and Al Sakhour, according to a civil defence official.

The rising casualties in Aleppo, where buildings have been reduced to rubble or are lacking roofs or walls, have caused international outcry and a renewed diplomatic push, with talks between the United States and Russia planned for Saturday.

The foreign ministers of GCC members Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with Mr Cavusoglu, are to join US secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in the Swiss city of Lausanne for the latest diplomatic push to settle the conflict.

Despite differences over Syria, Russia and Turkey have been pursuing closer ties.

Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir said the Gulf views the Ankara-Moscow rapprochement positively.

“We see the reduction in tension between Turkey and Russia as perhaps an opportunity” that could help a solution in Syria, Mr Al Jubeir said.

“Turkey views the situation in Syria exactly the way we do.”

Now in its sixth year, Syria’s civil war has killed 300,000 people and made millions homeless while dragging in regional and global powers and inspiring extremist attacks abroad.

President Bashar Al Assad is backed by Russia’s air force, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and an array of Shiite militias from Arab neighbours, while Sunni rebels seeking to oust him are backed by Turkey, the United States and Gulf states.

The Syrian and Russian governments say they only target militants.

The US president Barack Obama and his senior foreign policy advisers are expected to meet on Friday to consider military and other options in Syria, US officials said.

Some officials argue the United States must act more forcefully in Syria or risk losing what influence it still has over moderate rebels and its Arab, Kurdish and Turkish allies in the fight against ISIL, the officials said.

Moscow on Thursday called on regional states not to supply portable anti-aircraft missiles to Syrian rebel groups, warning that any unfriendly actions against Russian forces would elicit an appropriate response.

Aleppo has been divided between government and rebel-controlled areas for years. More than 250,000 people are believed to be trapped in eastern Aleppo, the rebels’ most important urban stronghold, facing shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

In Geneva, the United Nations said Damascus had partially approved its aid plan for October, giving the green light for convoys to 25 of 29 besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria, which are also deprived of some vital supplies.

However, the Syrian government did not give approval for either eastern Aleppo or three districts near Damascus, the UN said.

The war has badly affected government-held regions of Syria too and on Thursday Damascus and Moscow struck a deal to import one million tonnes of Russian wheat, enough to cover the needs of those areas for a year, at cheap prices.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters