\n The United States declared Friday that the bombing of civilians in Aleppo could amount to a war crime, as the diplomatic battle over the Syrian war moved to the United Nations.\n<\/p>\n
\n US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear his mounting anger at the Russian-backed regime onslaught, declaring: \"These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation -- war crimes.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n France, meanwhile, was preparing to call a vote on Saturday on a United Nations Security Council resolution to demand an end to Russia and Syria's aerial bombardment of Aleppo -- a motion that Russia is all but certain to veto.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia countered with a draft resolution of its own, calling for a ceasefire and demanding access for humanitarian aid, but with no mention of restraining air power over the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n President Bashar al-Assad's forces launched their assault on eastern Aleppo, home to around a quarter-of-a-million civilians, two weeks ago after a US-Russian brokered ceasefire fell apart.\n<\/p>\n
\n The United States has since abandoned bilateral talks with Russia on restoring the truce, but a new effort to revive a multilateral peace-building effort has made no progress as fighting rages.\n<\/p>\n
\n Meeting in Washington with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Kerry said Assad and Russia's jets had repeatedly and deliberately launched deadly strikes on hospitals.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"And those that commit these will be and should be held accountable for their actions,\" Kerry told reporters.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The blunt warning came amid soaring tensions, as US officials accused Russia of trying to manipulate the US election campaign through computer hacking and vowed to respond.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ayrault said he would head to the United Nations on Saturday to make the case for a resolution demanding a ceasefire and a ban on Russian and Syrian jets overflying the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n France's top diplomat, who met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, insisted that hope was not dead that the move could go somewhere, despite the clear threat of a Russian veto.\n<\/p>\n
\n But Moscow's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters: \"I cannot possibly see how we can let this resolution pass.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The Russian text, obtained by AFP, \"urges immediate implementation of the cessation of hostilities, in particular in Aleppo\" and demands deliveries of humanitarian aid.\n<\/p>\n
\n US officials are working on possible sanctions against Russian and Syrian individuals and companies involved in the siege, and Germany said it would not rule out backing possible international moves.\n<\/p>\n
\n Once Syria's economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been ravaged by the war that has killed more than 300,000 since it began in March 2011.\n<\/p>\n
\n At least 250,000 people remain in the rebel-held east of the city. They have been under near-continuous siege for months, and are now facing some of the most intense bombardment yet.\n<\/p>\n
\n Raids earlier this week destroyed the largest hospital in the rebel-controlled east.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Indefinite deployment -\n<\/p>\n
\n The talks in Washington came after UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that Aleppo could be totally destroyed before the end of the year.\n<\/p>\n
\n De Mistura also called on the regime and Russia to halt strikes if fighters from the former Al-Nusra Front, now known as Fateh al-Sham Front, left the city, even offering to escort them out himself.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lavrov said he could support a UN plan for the jihadist faction to leave Aleppo if other opposition groups renounced their ties to the former Al-Qaeda subsidiary.\n<\/p>\n
\n Russia's parliament on Friday ratified a deal with Syria on the \"indefinite\" deployment of its forces in the country.\n<\/p>\n
\n In a move seen as firming up Russia's long-term presence, lawmakers approved an accord signed last year that could allow Moscow to establish a permanent presence at its Hmeimim Air Base.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Aleppo life 'unbearable' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Fierce fighting has gripped several neighborhoods on the frontline dividing rebel groups from regime forces in western areas.\n<\/p>\n
\n Government troops captured a hilltop south of the city, but rebels retook nearby positions, according to British-based watchdog the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.\n<\/p>\n
\n Carlos Francisco, who heads the Syria branch of medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders, described the circumstances in Aleppo as \"unbearable.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The few remaining doctors with capability to save lives are also confronting death,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rebels have also intensified their rocket fire on government-held western Aleppo, where four people were killed in the Midan neighborhood, state television reported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States declared Friday that the bombing of civilians in Aleppo could amount to a war crime, as the diplomatic battle over the Syrian war moved to the United Nations. US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear his mounting anger at the Russian-backed regime onslaught, declaring: \"These are acts that beg for an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-29664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n