The outgoing president of the United States of America, Barack Obama has pinned the blame for the destruction and loss of lives in the Syrian city of Aleppo on Russia and the Assad regime.
As Aleppo fell to the victorious forces of the Syrian Government supported by Iran, Russia and Hezbollah, there have been concerns for the fate of civilians trapped with the surrounded rebels. Negotiations continue for the safe evacuation of trapped civilians and rebels to nearby Idlib province and the Turkish border.
President Barack Obama said his administration would press for a broader cease-fire in Syria and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Aleppo, and placed blame for atrocities in the city on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies.
In a recent press conference, Obama said the Assad regime cannot “slaughter its way to legitimacy.” He emphatically accused Assad’s forces and his allies of what he called “atrocities” in Aleppo.
“The responsibility for this brutality lies in one place alone,” Obama said at his last annual end-of-the-year news conference at the White House on Friday. “This blood and these atrocities are on their hands.”
Obama, however, said he felt a personal responsibility for the suffering of innocent civilians, apparently for not doing enough to help them.
“I’ve felt responsible when kids were being shot by snipers. I felt responsible when millions of people have been displaced,” he said. “I feel responsible for murder and slaughter that’s taken place in South Sudan that’s not being reported on.”
Critics of the president, including his successor, Donald Trump, have advocated greater U.S. involvement in the war. In a speech Thursday night in Hershey, Pennsylvania, Trump said he would establish safe zones within Syria paid for by neighboring Gulf States.
“I will get the Gulf States to give us lots of money, and we’ll build and help build safe zones in Syria, so people can have a chance,” Trump said. “So they can have a chance.”
Obama has dismissed the idea of safe zones, arguing that it would require a massive investment of U.S. forces and money and raise the risk of a military confrontation with Russia. Secretary of State John Kerry estimated earlier this year that establishing Syrian safe zones would require between 15,000 and 30,000 U.S. troops.
The president said Friday that he will continue to consult with Trump so that he can make a decision once he’s sworn in. “Between now and then these are decisions I have to make,” he said.
Building safe zones could also distract from the effort to combat Islamic State forces within Syria and make it harder to reach a political settlement ending the country’s six-year long civil war, the White House has said.
Obama, instead, proposes a ceasefire in Syria, even as he prepares to hand over office. Obama said Friday that an “impartial observer force” should supervise the evacuation of civilians and rebels from Aleppo through “safe corridors” and ensure that humanitarian aid is delivered.
A “broader cease-fire” could “serve as a basis of a political rather than military solution,” he said. “Over the long term, the Assad regime cannot slaughter its way to legitimacy.”