Germany slams Assad regime, Russia, Iran on Aleppo

BERLIN (AA) – Germany on Wednesday accused the Syrian regime and its allies of serious crimes in eastern Aleppo and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said the regime has committed crimes in the besieged northern Syrian city, including mistreatment, torture, starvation and indiscriminately killing civilians.

“We know that Iranian fighters as well as Shiite militia financed by Iran have been involved in all these,” Steffen Seibert said during a news conference. “And we also know that the indiscriminate destruction of eastern Aleppo and its residents would not be possible without the strong military support of Russia. We know that the Russian armed forces was also involved in airstrikes targeting civilian areas and infrastructure.”

Seibert slammed Russia for not preventing the crimes, despite Moscow’s strong influence on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

He called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in eastern Aleppo to allow humanitarian access.

“It is still not too late to prevent further pointless bloodshed,” he said.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he had a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, amid recent worrisome developments in eastern Aleppo, and would also talk with Iran’s foreign minister later Wednesday.

Steinmeier said following the regime’s recent advances in eastern Aleppo, Russia and Iran, as the main supporters of the regime, bear major responsibility for the developments there.

Violence has escalated in the city as Syrian regime forces advanced Monday into opposition-held parts of eastern Aleppo following a five-month siege and persistent aerial bombardment.

The Russia-backed regime had been trying to reestablish control over parts of Aleppo captured four years ago by armed opposition groups.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011 when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which had erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed by the conflict and millions more displaced.