Syria, Aleppo – The failure of the two resolutions deepened divisions at the Security Council between Moscow and the Western powers backing rebel forces in Syria’s five-year war, which has killed more than 300,000 people.

France’s draft called for an end to all military flights over Aleppo and to air strikes on the rebel-held east that has 250,000 inhabitants.

It was the fifth time that Russia used its veto to block UN action on the war in Syria.

Syrian rescuers hold the body of a girl after pulling her from rubble of a building following a regime air strike on Aleppo’s rebel-held neighbourhood of Al-Shaar

French President Francois Hollande said in a TV interview to be broadcast Monday that he would hesitate to receive Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin when he visits Paris on October 19 because of “war crimes” in Aleppo. Putin is scheduled to open a Russian orthodox centre in the French capital.

At least 250,000 people are living under siege in rebel-held east Aleppo

The assault on Aleppo was launched just days after the collapse of a ceasefire in Syria that was brokered jointly by Russia and the United States.

Russia says its air strikes target extremist militias such as the Islamic State group but critics say it is more occupied with keeping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power than killing jihadists.

An analysis published Sunday by the US-based IHS Conflict Monitor said that in the first quarter of 2016, just 26 percent of Russian strikes in Syria targeted IS.

That dipped to 22 percent in the second quarter, and 17 percent in the third quarter, the report said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that the mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow over the Syrian conflict had created a situation “more dangerous” than the Cold War.

Source: Extracted from AFP, Oct, 10, 2016