Alwaght- Russia blocked a draft UN Security Council resolution on the cessation of hostilities in Syria's Aleppo.
During the Saturday voting, Russia favored a proposal by the UN Envoy to Syria that focuses on evicting al-Nusra terrorists (al-Qaeda) from Eastern Aleppo.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the French-penned draft resolution that Russia vetoed at the UN Security Council are obsessed with having the Syrian government overthrown by foreign-sponsored international terrorist forces.
The French project was biased against the Syrian government, which was named as the sole party responsible for the escalating violence in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Sunday.
The document “blatantly attempted, by issuing a no-fly zone over Aleppo, to protect the terrorist group Al-Nusra Front [rebranded as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham] and the militant groups that have merged with it, in contradiction to the responsibility undertaken by all UN members to fight against the terrorist threat by all means necessary,” the statement says.
The draft also failed to acknowledge that militant groups were playing a key role in blocking humanitarian aid from reaching Aleppo and ignored the goal of assuring a political transition, “which the opposition forces, supported and whitewashed by the West, are derailing,” according to the statement.
China supports russia's position
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has publicly backed Russia’s positions on “the most important” global issues, including Moscow’s take on the Syrian and Afghan conflicts. It stressed that the two keep close contact as fellow UN Security Council permanent members.
Speaking at a briefing on Sunday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said that Russia and China had been working closely together in the United Nations Security Council, sharing similar views on events both on regional and global levels.
"China and Russia hold similar positions on the most important international and regional issues, including on Syria and Afghanistan. The sides, being permanent members of the UN Security Council, continue close cooperation on international and regional issues," Li Baodong said.
Being the only non-western member of the UN Security Council besides Russia, China has been taking Moscow’s side on heated and highly debatable issues.
On Saturday, China’s ambassador to the UN, Liu Jieyi, expressed his regret that the Russia-sponsored resolution on Syria, which was vetoed by UN Security Council, did not pass the vote, while calling it “comprehensive, all-encompassing and balanced” document.
"China voted for the draft resolution and regrets that it was not adopted,” the UN envoy said.
Western countries back terrorists in Syria
The US and other Western countries aided so-called ‘moderate rebels’ in Syria with weapons and training, claiming this would help them defeat both the Syrian army and terrorist organizations.
The Syrian government has stated several times that the regimes in Riyadh, Ankara, Doha and some Western states, such as France, Britain and the US support terrorists in the country.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has also said that the US is not seriously fighting militants from al-Nusra terrorist group in Syria, adding that, though American fighter jets make a lot of flights, they don’t hit many targets.
Moscow “doesn’t see any facts that the US is seriously battling Al-Nusra,” Lavrov said in an interview aired on Channel One Russia on Sunday.
Russia is also suspicious about Washington’s calls for Russia and the Syrian Air Force to cease their bombing runs against terrorists in Aleppo, the Russian Foreign Minister said.
"And it’s also suspicious that they call on us and the Syrian air force not to fly over Aleppo because, yes, the main force of Al-Nusra front is there, but there are also allegedly representatives of the ‘moderate opposition,’ who are surrounded and have nowhere to go except to Al-Nusra,” Lavrov said.
Weakened UN Security Council
The UN Security Council is mandated with maintaining international peace and security to the Security Council but it has failed in its duties due to negative interference by Western powers.
This important body has become a tool for fronting US interests globally in a push by Washington to push for unipolar post-Cold War hegemony. However, there is a glimmer of hope due to Russia using of its veto power and China abstaining to vote in favor of the US hegemony.
Way forward
There is need for Russia and China to push for UN Security Council resolutions that ban and explicitly prohibit any support for all nature of terrorist groups in Syria including the so called moderate opposition.
After the annihilation of terrorist groups, a rejuvenated UN Security Council must pass resolutions compelling the opposition groups and the government to agree on a permanent ceasefire. This should be followed by an encompassing election and all sides must guarantee to accept the results. After these stages the Security Council should put in place mechanisms to punish countries or groups which incite violence or interfere in Syria's internal affairs.
