At least 23 civilians were killed in renewed government airstrikes on the contested city of Aleppo, Syrian activists said Sunday, as the United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on the spiraling violence in Syria.
(FOX)- The Syrian government’s allies in the Security Council, Russia, China and Venezuela, accuse the rebels of breaking a September 9 cease-fire brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Since the cease-fire’s collapse, there have been continued atrocities, including an airstrike on a humanitarian relief convoy. The U.N., which supported the convoy, says that if the attack is proven to have been intentional, it could constitute a war crime.
U.S. officials said Russian fighter jets were likely involved in the airstrike, which Moscow denied.
At the start of the emergency meeting the U.N.’s top envoy to Syria accused the government of unleashing “unprecedented military violence” against civilians in Aleppo.
Staffan de Mistura said Syria’s declaration of a military offensive to retake rebel-held eastern Aleppo has led to one of the worst weeks of the 5 1/2-year war with dozens of airstrikes against residential areas and buildings causing scores of civilian deaths.
Medical workers and local officials reported airstrikes on neighborhoods throughout Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern districts as an announced government offensive entered its fourth day.