Kerry: Assad regime attacks in Aleppo ‘nothing short of a massacre’

WASHINGTON/ALEPPO: US Secretary of State John Kerry accused the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad of carrying out “nothing short of a massacre” in Aleppo, where thousands were evacuated on Thursday from the last opposition bastion in a city besieged for years.
Kerry, speaking at a news briefing, said the United States was seeking an immediate, verifiable, and durable cessation of hostilities in Aleppo, and said it appeared that airstrikes and shelling had stopped and that convoys were moving out.
“There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for the indiscriminate and savage brutality against civilians shown by the regime and by its Russian and Iranian allies over the past few weeks, or indeed over the past five years,” Kerry said. “We are seeing the unleashing of a sectarian passion.”
He added: “The Assad regime is actually carrying out nothing short of a massacre.”
The evacuation began with a convoy of ambulances and buses crossing into a regime-held district in southern Aleppo around 2:30 p.m. (1230 GMT).
A regime source said that 951 evacuees, including 108 wounded, were in the convoy. Most were civilians but about 200 opposition fighters were among them, the source said.
The vehicles arrived just over an hour later in opposition territory about 5 km west of the city, and they followed by a second convoy of 15 buses, state media and a doctor at the scene said.
The evacuees spent hours gathering earlier at a staging area in Aleppo’s southern Al-Amiriyah district.
A journalist saw people piling onto the green buses, filling seats and even sitting on the floor, with some worried there would not be another chance to evacuate.
Many were in tears and some hesitated to board, afraid they would end up in the hands of regime forces. On the dusty window of one of the buses someone had written “One day we will return.”
Each bus carried a member of the Syrian Red Crescent wearing the organization’s red uniform, riding at the front next to the driver.
UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said some 50,000 people remained in east Aleppo with about 10,000, including fighters, likely to be evacuated to Idlib.
“Without a political agreement or cease-fire, Idlib will be the next Aleppo,” de Mistura said, speaking at a news conference with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault in Paris.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he had summoned the ambassadors of Russia and Iran to convey his “profound disquiet” over events Aleppo.
Johnson expressed concern at reports of executions, ambulances being shot at and “disappearances” of opponents by pro-regime forces.
“Both Russia and Iran have failed to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, specifically by failing to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians during the months when eastern Aleppo was besieged,” Johnson said in a statement. “They deserve no credit for the fact that an evacuation appears to be underway today,” he added.
“Having inflicted such suffering on the people of eastern Aleppo, Iran and Russia cannot expect praise for allowing some people to escape at the final hour.”
He said the Russian and Iranian governments were prolonging the suffering of the Syrian people through their support for the Syrian regime.
The UN Security Council will meet behind closed doors on Friday to discuss the crisis. France requested the urgent consultations, set for around midday (1700 GMT), to push for international observers to be sent to the city to monitor the situation and ensure deliveries of humanitarian aid.