Kerry accuses Assad government of massacre in Aleppo
Source: Reuters
15 DEC 2016 AT 18:38 ET
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government of carrying out “nothing short of a massacre” in Aleppo, where thousands on Thursday were evacuated under a ceasefire deal from the last rebel enclave in a city besieged by fighting for years.
Kerry vigorously defended U.S. diplomatic efforts to end the war – all of which have been futile – and in which Assad, backed by Russia, Iran and Shi’ite militias, has gained the upper hand in the latest turn of the nearly six-year-old conflict.
Ultimately, Washington was forced to watch from the sidelines as the Syrian government and its allies mounted an assault to pin down the rebels in a steadily shrinking pocket of territory in eastern Aleppo, culminating in this week’s ceasefire deal.
“There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for the indiscriminate and savage brutality against civilians shown by the regime and by its Russian and Iranian allies over the past few weeks, or indeed for the past five years,” Kerry told a news briefing in Washington. “We are seeing the unleashing of a sectarian passion.”
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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/kerry-accuses-assad-government-of-massacre-in-aleppo/
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