Obama: Syria's Assad, Russia and Iran Have Blood on Hands

W460

U.S. President Barack Obama declared Friday that Bashar Assad's Syrian regime and its Iranian and Russian backers are responsible for the slaughter of civilians in Aleppo, with "blood... on their hands."

"The world as we speak is united in horror at the savage assault by the Syrian regime and its Russian and Iranian allies on the city of Aleppo," he told an end-of-year news conference. 

"This blood and these atrocities are on their hands," he said, before admitting to reporters that he also asks himself whether the United States has done enough to halt the war.

"There are places around the world where horrible things are happening and -- because of my office, because I'm president of the United States -- I feel responsible," he said.

"Is there something I could do that would save lives and make a difference and spare some child who doesn't deserve to suffer? So that's a starting point."

The U.S. leader, who leaves office on January 20 to make way for President-elect Donald Trump, called for impartial observers to deploy to monitor efforts to evacuate civilians from the city.

And he warned Assad, who has been engaged in a brutal civil war against rebel forces since 2011, that he will not be able to "slaughter his way to legitimacy."

- 'Synonym for hell' -

Obama's White House has been engaged in a diplomatic effort to convince Russia to bring Assad to the table to negotiate a peace deal with the Syrian opposition.

But all attempts to broker a ceasefire have rapidly broken down, and now Russia is working with Turkey to oversee an evacuation of the last rebel-held pocket of Aleppo.

On Friday, the Syrian government suspended that operation, trapping thousands of civilians and rebel fighters in the city and increasing fears of a bloodbath to come.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that Aleppo had become "a synonym for hell" and urged "the parties to take all necessary measures to allow safe resumption of this evacuation process."

Senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Washington's ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, have warned Assad against carrying out a Srebrenica-style massacre.

They have also warned the defeat of Aleppo will not end the civil war but instead foment extremism among Assad's opponents and have called for war crimes investigations.

- 'Right approach' -

But Washington has not been able to mediate the start of a credible peace process, nor separate so-called "moderate rebels" from al-Qaida-linked extremists.

"I cannot claim that we've been successful and so that's something that, as is true with a lot of issues and problems around the world I have to go to bed with every night," Obama said.

"But I continue to believe it was the right approach given what realistically we could get done."

More than 310,000 people have been killed since early 2011, when Assad brutally repressed anti-government protests and provoked a civil war.

More than half the population has been displaced, with millions becoming refugees, placing a huge burden on neighboring countries and sparking a political crisis in Europe.

Meanwhile, the extremist Islamic State jihadist group has taken advantage of the chaos to seize part of eastern Syria and set up a "capital" in the city of Raqa.

U.S. troops and warplanes are helping locally recruited militias fight the Islamic State in the east, but have not intervened against Assad, who has Russian military backing. 

Comments 11
Thumb liberty 17 December 2016, 00:23

Obama: Syria's Assad, Russia and Iran Have Blood on Hands

very very true... what about you?

Thumb _mowaten_ 17 December 2016, 21:33

LOOOOOOOL @obama!!! seriously? if anyone in the world cannot speak of bloody hands it's him and any official in the US regime in general. they've killed millions in countless wars and undercover coups, always far away from their borders and yet always claiming "self-defense" or some other self-righteous BS (spreading "democracy and freedom" being one the most cynical).
in syria like every other war in the world, they're the ones pulling the strings behind the curtains, arming and sponsoring the terrorists and allowing their stooges (Saudi/Turkey/EU) to do the same. the syrian blood is on your hands, you are the ones who decided to sacrifice half a million people to change a regime that wasnt towing your line.

Thumb _mowaten_ 17 December 2016, 21:37

and the only reason you're so bitter now is that you lost. sore losers make sore speeches.

Thumb EagleDawn 18 December 2016, 07:16

@mowateh; laughing uncontrollably is a sign of mental illness, as one of your fake accounts used to repeat every day.

Thumb _mowaten_ 18 December 2016, 16:22

i love when you quote me quoting you eagleyawn, it's like the trolling has come a full circle.

Missing ArabDemocrat.com 17 December 2016, 15:30

Gigahypocrite is making another useless statement.

Thumb _mowaten_ 17 December 2016, 21:34

"arabdemocrat" > what was the use of your statement exactly? gigahabib made a very clear point, what's yours?

Default-user-icon CanAm (Guest) 17 December 2016, 17:38

@ bigjohn.

Where are the facts on this? I can prove other wise.

Missing peace 17 December 2016, 18:16

which country or leader in this world can boast having no blood on his hands? none...
they are all hypocrits when it comes to accuse others.

Thumb scorpyonn 17 December 2016, 22:37

Someone needs to teach Iran a lesson it will never forget- Obama is too weak to do that- I hope Trump does not hold back and destroys neutralizes them.

Thumb scorpyonn 17 December 2016, 22:38

*destroys and neutralizes them.