US-Russia Syria tension ‘more dangerous than Cold War’

Syrian pro-government soldiers patrol the area of Awijah as they advance in Aleppo's rebel-held neighbourhoods, on October 8, 2016. AFP / GEORGE OURFALIAN

ALEPPO // The tension between Moscow and Washington over Syria has created a situation more dangerous than the Cold War, said a senior European politician.

As the Syrian army pressed on with its assault on rebel-held parts of Aleppo, the United Nations was on Saturday the setting for a stand-off between the two superpowers as the Security Council met to vote for two different resolutions, both aiming, in their different ways, to ease the crisis in Syria. But two senior German senior diplomats warned that far from calming down, there was a real danger of a military escalation.

“It’s a fallacy to think that this is like the Cold War. The current times are different and more dangerous,” said the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview published on Saturday. And top diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger said there was “considerable danger” of a military confrontation.

“This danger has not been as strong in decades and the confidence between West and East has never been so low,” he said.

The two resolutions before the Security Council were drafted by France and by Russia. The French proposal called for an end to air raids on Aleppo and for aircraft to be grounded. The Russian resolution — introduced suddenly late on Friday night — makes no mention of a cessation of bombing. Instead it calls for “immediate implementation of the cessation of hostilities, in particular in Aleppo” and demands that all parties allow deliveries of humanitarian aid.”

The Russians immediately made it plain that they would use their veto to vote down the French proposal. “I cannot possibly see how we can let this resolution pass,” said Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin

In a thinly-veiled rebuke to the Russians, French president Francois Hollande said any country that rejected France’s proposal would be greatly damaged.

“A country that vetoes this resolution would be discredited in the eyes of the world. It would be responsible for continuing abuses,” he said.

As the arguments went on in New York, Syrian regime forces continued their advance on Aleppo, seizing territory to the north and pushing back the front line in the city centre which had remained largely static since the rebels captured eastern districts in 2012.

The advances, made in the last two weeks, have exacted a heavy price: at least 305 civilians killed in rebel-held areas, 57 of them children.

British ambassador Matthew Rycroft dismissed the Russian draft as a political ploy.

“This is a cynical attempt to divert attention away from the need to stop the bombing of Aleppo,” he said. A Security Council diplomat pointed out that the main point of the Russian draft was that “it does not call for an end to the aerial bombardment.”

Council members have been holding negotiations for the past week on the French proposal for an end to the bombing of Aleppo, access for aid deliveries and a ban on military flights over the city.

But Mr Churkin said the measure was “hastily put together” and suggested it was “not designed to make progress ... but to cause a Russian veto.”

The Security Council session was due to begin at 7pm GMT (11pm UAE time). If Russia blocks the draft, it will be its fifth veto of a UN resolution on Syria.

Syrian government forces and their allies recaptured several towns and villages in Hama province on Saturday, according to pro-Damascus media reported, reversing advances made in recent weeks by the opposition. It was the first time government forces were on the front foot in the western Syrian province since the rebels launched an attack at the end of August that captured a series of towns and villages.

Hizbollah’s Al Manar TV said the Syrian army had seized towns or villages including Al Talisiya, Al Qahira and Tel Al Usud.

ISIL militants captured several villages from Syrian rebels in a counter-attack near the Turkish border that forced the foreign-backed opposition forces to retreat. The UK-bases monitoring service, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the rebels, — who have had support from Turkey with tanks and air strikes — had been pushing towards the ISIL stronghold of Dabiq, a village with symbolic importance to the extremist.

The ISIL attack, which began late on Friday, retook villages including Akhtarin and pushed towards Turkman Bareh, some three km east of Dabiq. Turkish warplanes lorry 14 ISIL targets in 24 hours and reported two militants killed and two Syrian rebel fatalities.

Ankara launched its first major military incursion into Syria in August, deploying tanks and warplanes to support insurgents it backs in an operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield”.

The operation has separately targeted ISIL and Kurdish militants, whose presence along its border Turkey sees as a threat.

* Reuters, Agence France-Presse