People dig in the rubble in an ongoing search for survivors at a site hit previously by an airstrike in the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, Sept. 26.

ABDALRHMAN ISMAIL / Reuters</s>Russia has condemned the UN and Western governments for attempting to thwart their attempts at defeating ISIS in Syria, vetoing a UN Security Council proposal to end fighting.

Russia vetoed a French-drafted resolution that would have ended air strikes against key ISIS strongholds in Aleppo.

It is the fifth time Russia has vetoed a UN resolution on Syria during the more than five-year conflict.

The previous four times Russia was backed by China, but on Saturday China abstained from the vote.

Eleven of the 15 council members voted in favour of the draft resolution.

A UN resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes to be adopted. The veto powers are the US, France, Britain, Russia and China.

After Russia’s veto, the council moved to the second vote on the Russian-drafted text, but it failed to gather enough votes to pass.

“It was a day of high drama at the Security Council,” said James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York.

“The Russian ambassador called it a ‘spectacle’. I was talking to him just moments ago as he was leaving. he said no one wins and we need to go back to diplomacy.

“But certainly some ambassadors were pointing the finger at Russia because, of course, the first resolution that was proposed by France, which suggested that all military aircraft over Aleppo should be grounde,d would have gone through if it wasn’t for the Russian veto.”

After Russia’s proposal failed to gather enough votes, Matthew Rycroft, Britain’s ambassador to the UN, asked Russia to “Stop bombing Aleppo now”.

“It [the Russian proposal] failed because it failed to demand an immediate end to the aerial bombardment of Aleppo,” he said.

“It’s a sham. Just as Russia’s hollow commitment to a political process in Syria is a sham. The indiscrimiunate bombing of civilians in Aleppo is sickening and barbaric. Please stop now.”

In response to Rycroft’s comments, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, said “the UK should stop supporting terrorists instead”.

“Stop supporting all the villans across the world including terrorists,” he said.

Stop interfering in the internal affairs of soverign states. Stop your colonial habits. Leave the world in peace and then maybe, things will improve in many areas and regions of the world.”

In the run-up to the votes, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s foreign minister, said the mounting tensions between the US and Russia had created a situation “more dangerous” than the Cold War.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, has made clear his anger at the Syrian army’s Russian-backed assault on Aleppo, saying that its bombing of civilians could amount to a war crime.

Syria has made significant advances in its renewed two-week-old offensive in Aleppo, seizing territory to the north and pushing back the front line in the city centre.

The front line had remained largely static since the rebels captured the eastern districts in 2012.

Since the government’s offensive began on September 22, a few days after a joint US-Russia-brokered ceasefire collapsed, at least 290 people – mostly civilians – have been killed in rebel-held areas, 57 of them children, says the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) monitoring group.

And 50 civilians, including nine children, have been killed in rebel shelling on government-held areas of the city, according to the SOHR, which relies on a network of sources on the ground.

It said government forces were making further advances on Saturday in the lead-up to the Security Council session.

The SOHR reported heavy air strikes on the rebel-held Fardos and Sukari neighbourhoods.

The assault by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces has led to a global outcry after air strikes on hospitals and a UN aid convoy.

The offensive has also elicited a warning from Staffan de Mistura, the UN envoy, that eastern Aleppo could be “totally destroyed” by the year’s end.

Council members held negotiations during 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.

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

“I cannot possibly see how we can let this resolution pass”.</s>Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, foreground, speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, with a montage in the background showing Secretary of State John Kerry shaking hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

UNITED NATIONS — Russia has vetoed a U.N. resolution drafted by France demanding an immediate halt to the bombing of the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.

The vote in the Security Council on Saturday afternoon was 11 countries in favor, two against and two abstentions.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had warned before the vote that the continued bombing of Aleppo was killing civilians and destroying hospitals and schools — "and has nothing to do with combatting terrorism."

"It is the annihilation of Aleppo," he said.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) – Russia vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution yesterday that would have demanded an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Syria’s Aleppo city and called for a truce and humanitarian aid access throughout Syria.

Meanwhile, a rival Russian-drafted resolution that aimed to revive a failed September 9, US and Russia ceasefire deal on Syria did not garner the minimum nine votes.

Fighting continued in the almost six-year conflict with Syrian government forces recapturing territory from insurgents in several western areas.

President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian air power and Iranian, Lebanese and Iraqi fighters on the ground, hold the upper hand around the key battleground of Aleppo, whose opposition-held eastern sector has been encircled for all but a short period since July.

The government side’s bombardment of Aleppo since a ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow in September collapsed after a week has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and countries supporting the Syrian opposition.

France, which opposes Assad, demanded in its draft resolution an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo city. Russia has backed Assad with a year-long air campaign against the rebels.

French President Francois Hollande yesterday had urged United Nations Security Council members not to use their veto against a resolution that calls for an end to bombardments of Aleppo.

Russia’s draft, which does not include that demand, urges Moscow and Washington to revive the ceasefire deal.

Syrian opposition negotiator Asaad al-Zoubi said on his Twitter account that its High Negotiations Committee would not accept any new ceasefire deal without guaranteed monitoring of it by European and Arab countries.

Rebels also suffered setbacks further northeast near the Turkish border yesterday, in fighting against Islamic State militants, British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Syrian government forces and their allies, backed by air raids, took over an area on Aleppo’s northern outskirts on Saturday, state media and the Observatory said.

The advance in the Awaija area strengthened their hold on areas surrounding rebel-held east Aleppo, the Observatory said.

Rebel official Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim faction denied there had been a government advance there.

But he did confirm government advances further south in Hama province, reported by pro-Damascus media and the Observatory.

The Syrian army and its allies recaptured several towns and villages from rebels in Hama’s northern countryside, reversing recent insurgent gains in the area.

Rebels had seized towns and villages north of Hama city after launching an offensive at the end of August in rare advances while insurgent factions were pressed elsewhere.

The government’s Hama advances were their first in the area since then, the Observatory said.

It said the government side had taken advantage of recent infighting between two Islamist insurgent groups in the countryside of Idlib, north of Hama’s provincial boundary.

In a separate government advance against insurgents near Damascus, the Syrian army and allied forces seized a large portion of the town of al-Hameh to the northwest of the Syrian capital, the Observatory said.

Russia’s air power has been crucial for strengthening Assad’s position in the past year, pounding rebels including foreign-backed factions.

Washington accuses Moscow and Damascus of war crimes for intentionally targeting civilians, aid deliveries and hospitals which have been hit particularly around Aleppo in recent weeks.

Moscow and Damascus say they are targeting terrorist groups.

The ceasefire deal brokered by Washington and Moscow in September was meant to pave the way for joint US-Russian targeting of extremists including al Qaeda and Islamic State.

All sides in the multi-sided Syria conflict, now in its sixth year, are fighting a number of separate battles against IS.

Members of the jihadist group recaptured several villages from foreign-backed rebels in their counter attack near the Turkish border, the Observatory said.

The rebels, whom Turkey has supported with tanks and air strikes, had been pushing towards the IS stronghold of Dabiq, a village of symbolic importance to the militants.

The stiff resistance the insurgents have encountered in recent days shows the challenge they face in capturing Dabiq and flushing the jihadist group out of more areas it controls in northern Syria.</s>BEIRUT — Russia vetoed a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Saturday that would have demanded an immediate end to air strikes and military flights over Syria's Aleppo city and called for a truce and humanitarian aid access throughout Syria.

Meanwhile, a rival Russian-drafted resolution that aimed to revive a failed September 9 US and Russia ceasefire deal on Syria did not garner the minimum nine votes.

Fighting continued in the almost six-year conflict with Syrian government forces recapturing territory from insurgents in several western areas.

President Bashar Al Assad's forces, backed by Russian air power and Iranian, Lebanese and Iraqi fighters on the ground, hold the upper hand around the key battleground of Aleppo, whose opposition-held eastern sector has been encircled for all but a short period since July.

The government side’s bombardment of Aleppo since a ceasefire brokered by Washington and Moscow in September collapsed after a week has drawn condemnation from the United Nations and countries supporting the Syrian opposition.

France, which opposes Assad, demanded in its draft resolution an end to air strikes and military flights over Aleppo city. Russia has backed Assad with a year-long air campaign against the rebels.

French President Francois Hollande on Saturday had urged United Nations Security Council members not to use their veto against a resolution that calls for an end to bombardments of Aleppo.

Russia’s draft, which does not include that demand, urges Moscow and Washington to revive the ceasefire deal.

Syrian opposition negotiator Asaad Al Zoubi said on his Twitter account that its High Negotiations Committee would not accept any new ceasefire deal without guaranteed monitoring of it by European and Arab countries.

Rebels also suffered setbacks further northeast near the Turkish border on Saturday, in fighting against Daesh militants, British-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Syrian government forces and their allies, backed by air raids, took over an area on Aleppo’s northern outskirts on Saturday, state media and the observatory said.

The advance in the Awaija area strengthened their hold on areas surrounding rebel-held east Aleppo, the observatory said.

Rebel official Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based Fastaqim faction denied there had been a government advance there.

But he did confirm government advances further south in Hama province, reported by pro-Damascus media and the observatory.

The Syrian army and its allies recaptured several towns and villages from rebels in Hama’s northern countryside, reversing recent insurgent gains in the area.

Rebels had seized towns and villages north of Hama city after launching an offensive at the end of August in rare advances while insurgent factions were pressed elsewhere.

The government’s Hama advances were their first in the area since then, the observatory said.

It said the government side had taken advantage of recent infighting between two Islamist insurgent groups in the countryside of Idlib, north of Hama’s provincial boundary.

In a separate government advance against insurgents near Damascus, the Syrian army and allied forces seized a large portion of the town of Al Hameh to the northwest of the Syrian capital, the observatory said.</s>The British ambassador to the United Nations, Matthew Rycroft, accused Russia of abusing its veto power.

"In the end, no resolution of this Security Council can end this war. The only thing that can end this war is a change of policy in Moscow," he said after the veto.

A separate counterresolution by Russia that did not call for a halt in airstrikes on Aleppo failed to get the necessary votes to pass.

"It was one weird day" at the Council, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said after the failed vote and his veto. He called it a "strange spectacle."

The Russian veto had been expected as Russia and the United States have been fighting over Russia's support of the Assad regime. Friday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said airstrikes by Syrian troops with Russian support should be investigated as war crimes as they hit hospitals and civilians. A Syrian family leaves the area following a reported airstrike on Friday, September 23, in rebel-held east Aleppo. Following the airstrike, recovery teams from Syria Civil Defense, known as the White Helmets, began working to free the trapped and recover the dead, including small children. This photo was released by the volunteer group Syria Civil Defense of the bodies of a man, with his knee pulled up near his face, and a child covered in dust after they were killed in the airstrike. The volunteers work to recover the bodies the man and child. A Syrian man carries the body of his nephew, recovered from the rubble. The volunteers remove an infant's body from the destroyed building. A Syrian woman carries the body of her infant after he was recovered. "This is a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians and to kill anybody and everybody who is in the way of their military objectives," Kerry said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also condemned the attacks and said the conflict has reached a "moment of truth" for the Council. Syria's regime says it is targeting terrorists in besieged Aleppo, a stronghold of opposition forces fighting the regime. "Everyone knows that there is only one way to save Aleppo and that is for an immediate end to the aerial bombardment that the Syrian regime and their Russian backers are pursuing," Rycroft said Saturday.</s>Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, foreground, speaks at a briefing in the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, on Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, with a montage in the background showing Secretary of State John Kerry shaking hands with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

UNITED NATIONS — Rival resolutions on Syria backed by the West and Russia were defeated in the U.N. Security Council on Saturday, offering no relief to the besieged city of Aleppo and the key powers even more divided over a course of action in the war-ravaged country.

Russia vetoed a French-drafted resolution demanding an immediate halt to the bombing campaign that the Syrian government and Russia are carrying out against rebel-held districts in Aleppo. The rival Russian draft which made no mention of a bombing halt was rejected because it failed to get the minimum nine "yes" votes needed for approval by the 15-member council.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current rotating council president, said before the votes that members were engaging in "one of the strangest spectacles" in the Security Council, because they were meeting knowing that neither resolution would be adopted.

"This waste of time is inadmissible," he said.

The votes reflected the deep divisions in the U.N.'s most powerful body which is charged with ensuring international peace and security but has totally failed to take action to end the more than 5-year Syrian conflict which has killed over 300,000 people and displaced millions.

The French-backed resolution received 11 "yes" votes, two "no" votes from Russia and Venezuela, and abstentions from China and Angola. The Russian resolution received four "yes" votes, nine "no" votes, and two abstentions.

It was the fifth veto by Russia of a Western-backed resolution aimed at ending the Syrian conflict.

When Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari started speaking, a number of ambassadors walked out, including the representatives of Britain, France, Ukraine and the United States.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, who addressed the session before the vote on the French resolution, warned that the continued bombing of Aleppo was killing civilians and destroying hospitals and schools — "and has nothing to do with combatting terrorism," as Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and its close ally Russia contend.

"It is the annihilation of Aleppo," he said, declaring that the continued bombing will leave the city in ruins, a place where citizens will be left to their "executioners."

He compared Aleppo's likely fate to Guernica during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, Srebrenica during the Bosnian war and the Chechen capital Grozny which was pummeled by the Russian army in the mid-1990s.

Russia's Churkin said the demand for a bombing halt in Aleppo was "not fleshed out" and would affect the government-controlled western part of the city as well as the rebel-held east.

He said the French resolution's adoption would have been the first where the Security Council decided on a course of action for a permanent council member without prior agreement — meaning that Russia would have been required to stop all flights and bombing of Aleppo.

Churkin noted that activity in Aleppo had gone down on Friday and "we hope this is a trend that will continue."</s>The United Nations Security Council on Saturday rejected a Russian-drafted resolution urging a ceasefire in Aleppo after Moscow vetoed a rival measure calling for an end to the bombing of the Syrian city.

The measure was defeated by a vote of nine against, including Britain, France and the United States, four in favor and two abstentions in the 15-member council.</s>UNITED NATIONS -- Rival resolutions on Syria backed by the West and Russia were defeated Saturday in the U.N. Security Council, offering no relief to the besieged city of Aleppo and leaving the key powers even more divided over a course of action in the war-ravaged country.

Russia vetoed a French-drafted resolution demanding an immediate halt to the bombing campaign that the Syrian government and Russia are carrying out against rebel-held districts in Aleppo. The rival Russian draft, which made no mention of a bombing halt, was rejected because it failed to get the minimum nine yes votes needed for approval by the 15-member council.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, the current rotating council president, said before the votes that members were engaging in "one of the strangest spectacles" in the Security Council, because they were meeting knowing that neither resolution would be adopted.

"This waste of time is inadmissible," he said.

The votes reflected the deep divisions in the U.N.'s most powerful body, which is supposed to ensure international peace and security but has failed to take action to end the more than five-year Syrian conflict.

The French-backed resolution received 11 "yes" votes, two "no" votes from Russia and Venezuela, and abstentions from China and Angola. The Russian resolution received four "yes" votes, nine "no" votes, and two abstentions.

It was the fifth veto by Russia of a Western-backed resolution aimed at ending the Syrian conflict.

The Russian draft resolution called for a separation of moderate and extremist forces in Syria. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft called the resolution "a sham" that would do nothing to protect civilians from being killed in Aleppo.

Several diplomats said Russia's last-minute introduction of the rival resolution was meant to put a negative spotlight on both sides of the war in Syria. Instead of Russia being the lone veto on a resolution demanding an end to the bombing campaign by Syrian and Russian aircraft in Aleppo, now the Western powers have vetoed a resolution calling for a halt to fighting in that region.

France circulated its draft resolution a week ago, saying it wanted the council to unite behind it. But negotiations never got Russia on board, and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault's visit to Moscow last week didn't, either.

Russia, a close Syria ally, has opposed any grounding of its warplanes, which have been supporting President Bashar Assad's military campaign.

Churkin called the French draft "very hastily put together."

"I frankly believe that this is designed not to make progress" in ending the current stalemate "but to cause a Russian veto," he told reporters after U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura briefed the Security Council in private Friday morning.

Churkin said it was "unprecedented" that the 15-member council would ask a permanent member to limit its activities, in this case requiring the Russian military to stop flights.

The French draft expresses the Security Council's intention to take "further measures" -- U.N. code for sanctions -- in the event that any party to the Syria conflict doesn't comply with its demands. There is no mention of this in the Russian text.

The Russian draft stressed "the urgent need to achieve and verify separating moderate forces from 'Jabhat Al-Nusra' as a key priority," referring to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, the militant group formerly known as the Nusra Front.

Key powers are divided over the course of action in war-ravaged Aleppo, and Syria in general, even as UNICEF's representative in Syria warned that the violence was causing "dire" humanitarian and psychological effects on both sides of Aleppo.

U.N. agencies are on "standby" to deliver assistance to the divided city, Hanaa Singer of the U.N.'s children agency told The Associated Press.

Also on Saturday, Syrian state media outlets and a Syria monitoring group said pro-government troops advanced in a northern district of eastern Aleppo, wrestling control from rebel fighters in their latest push into the besieged area.

Singer said conditions in besieged Aleppo are "terribly dire," with hospitals hit, doctors overwhelmed, and more than 100 children killed in bombings since Sept. 19. Conditions for thousands of displaced in the government-held part of the city also are deteriorating, with some of them being displaced for up to six times in the past three years, she said.

Singer returned last week from a weeklong trip to the government-held part of Aleppo where she visited thousands of displaced Syrians. Most are crammed in makeshift shelters, mosques, parks and churches after recently fleeing clashes on the front line between rebels and pro-government forces. In one case, a mother so desperate from the continuous displacement stabbed her baby girl, thinking she will save her daughter the misery of living on handouts and without a home, Singer said.

Describing the situation for thousands of families living in shelters in government-controlled Aleppo, Singer said: "These [are] the horrors in western Aleppo. God knows what is happening [in the case of] mental health or the psychological situation on the eastern [rebel-held] side."

Western Aleppo, controlled by the government, is separated from eastern rebel-held Aleppo by a few yards, sometimes by a single plastic sheet or pockmarked building. An estimated 275,000 people are living in the rebel-held part of Aleppo, with no international aid reaching the area since the first week of July. Besides the scarce assistance, it is also difficult to assess the needs with the ever-evolving violent situation, and lack of access for international aid groups, she said.

"I think we all agree, and especially if you have been so close in the area there and seeing the dire situation in the west, hearing about the horrible situation in the east, all we need now is [for] the violence to stop," Singer said. "The violence has to stop, and once the violence stops, the U.N., we absolutely stand ready. We are ready. We are actually on standby."

Singer said U.N. plans are in place for government-held Aleppo to accommodate people who may evacuate the besieged part of the city if a cease-fire takes effect.

According to medical charity Doctors Without Borders, hospitals in the eastern side of Syria's Aleppo have been attacked 23 times since July, damaging all eight facilities that have not yet been shuttered or destroyed. Since the U.S.-Russian cease-fire broke down Sept. 19, the situation in besieged Aleppo has deteriorated under relentless bombardment. Water stations and civil-defense centers also have been hit, while more than 320 people have been killed in eastern Aleppo in nearly three weeks of violence.

"In eastern Aleppo, the situation is terribly dire," Singer said. "Lots of schools and of hospitals have been hit; we understand that there are only 30 doctors there. We have information that at least over 100 children have been killed. We hear that because of the lack of services and lack of health facilities that some children, that doctors can't cope with all the cases, and some children in dire situation are left to die."

Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer and Sarah El Deeb of The Associated Press.</s>The Russian foreign ministry said yesterday a draft French UN Security Council resolution on Syria would have helped Islamist militants in the Aleppo area by protecting them from aerial bombing.

In a statement, the ministry also said the French text was politicised and one-sided.

Russia on Saturday vetoed the resolution, which demanded an end to air strikes on Aleppo and military over flights.

“An explicit attempt was made, by banning flights in the Aleppo area, to provide cover for the terrorists of Jabhat Al-Nusra and associated militants,” the ministry said.

A rival Russian draft text failed to get a minimum nine votes in favour. Moscow’s text removed the demand for an end to air strikes on Aleppo and put the focus back on a failed September 9th US/Russia ceasefire deal, which was annexed to the draft.

British UN ambassador Matthew Rycroft told Russian UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin: “Thanks to your actions today, Syrians will continue to lose their lives in Aleppo and beyond to Russian and Syrian bombing. Please stop now.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian war planes and Iranian support, have been battling to capture eastern Aleppo, the rebel-held half of Syria’s largest city, where more than 250,000 civilians are trapped.

“Russia has become one of the chief purveyors of terror in Aleppo, using tactics more commonly associated with thugs than governments,” US deputy ambassador to the United Nations David Pressman told the council.

He said Russia was “intent on allowing the killing to continue and, indeed, participating in carrying it out” and that what was needed from Moscow was “less talk and more action from them to stop the slaughter.”

A UN resolution needs nine votes in favour and no vetoes to be adopted. The power of veto lies with the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China. The Russian text only received four votes in favour, so a veto was not needed to block it.

The French draft received 11 votes in favour, while China and Angola abstained. Venezuela joined Russia in voting against it. It was the fifth time Russia has used its veto on a UN resolution on Syria during the more than five-year conflict.

Meanwhile, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday he had detected increasing US hostility towards Moscow and complained about what he said was a series of aggressive US steps that threatened Russia’s national security.

In an interview with Russian state television likely to worsen already poor relations with Washington, Lavrov blamed the Obama administration for what he described as a sharp deterioration in US-Russia ties.

“We have witnessed a fundamental change of circumstances when it comes to the aggressive Russophobia that now lies at the heart of US policy towards Russia,” Lavrov told First Channel TV. “It’s not just a rhetorical Russophobia, but aggressive steps that really hurt our national interests and pose a threat to our security.”

With relations between Moscow and Washington strained over issues from Syria to Ukraine, Lavrov reeled off a list of grievances against the US which he said had helped contribute to an atmosphere of mistrust that was in some ways more dangerous and unpredictable than the Cold War.

He said Nato had been steadily moving military infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders and lashed out at western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis.
Russia vetoes a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution that calls for a ceasefire in Aleppo. China, which had backed Russia's four previous Syria-related vetoes, abstains.