Syria: Angela Merkel 'horrified' by suffering under Russian airstrikes

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Syria: Angela Merkel 'horrified' by suffering under Russian airstrikes

German chancellor deplores casualties as Russia-backed regime advances on
Aleppo in what Turkey PM calls ‘inhumane attack’

Constanze Letsch in Istanbul, Ian Black and Philip Oltermann in Berlin
Monday 8 February 2016 14.19 GMT

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said she is “horrified” by the suffering caused by Russian bombing in Syria as pro-government forces backed by airstrikes came closer to encircling Aleppo.

Opposition activists and state media on Monday said Syrian army troops had taken the village of Kfeen, north of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, while rebel forces have also withdrawn under bombing from three Kurdish villages.

Tens of thousands of civilians fleeing the Russian-backed advance on Aleppo remain stranded near the Turkish border, with no sign that the authorities in Ankara will respond to mounting international pressure to allow in more refugees.

“We have been, in the past few days, not just appalled but horrified by what has been caused in the way of human suffering for tens of thousands of people by bombing – bombing primarily from the Russian side,” Merkel said after a meeting with Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu. She said the two countries would push at the United Nations for all sides to stick to a resolution passed in December calling for a halt to attacks on the civilian population.

Merkel made clear that she considered Moscow’s current course of action a violation of the UN resolution since it directly targeted civilians.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/08/syrian-army-advances-in-north-as-rebels-withdraw-from-kurdish-villages

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1. Putin using refugee crisis to weaken Merkel

Back in December 2015, when it became clear that refugees from the Middle East would continue to head towards Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel reassured her conservative Christian Democratic Union party that everything was under control. All she needed, she told party members, was more time. Germany could manage the influx of over one million refugees and asylum seekers.

Merkel was banking, naively or not, on two things: peace talks that would end the five-year-long war in Syria; and cooperation from Turkey to stop sending refugees to EU countries, improve the conditions for refugees, and strengthen the EU’s external border. Neither has materialised. Merkel’s task of reassuring her party and voters is becoming trickier by the day.

The peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the Syrian war collapsed on 5 February. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon blamed Russia. On the eve of the talks, Russia had bombarded the rebel-held city of Aleppo. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces were back with a vengeance. So much for those Western leaders who believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was an essential partner in weakening the so-called Islamic State and ending the war in Syria.

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With Putin helping continue the war in Syria, the time Merkel needed back in December seems increasingly elusive. More than ever she needs a respite as voters prepare to give their verdict on her leadership in three important regional elections in March. That respite will not come from Putin.

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/global-europe/putin-using-refugee-crisis-weaken-merkel-321686