Syrian government forces executed civilians in Aleppo after rebel groups agreed to cede the city to President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian backers, according to United Nations reports.
A major push by Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, against the city put the rebels on the verge of defeat, forcing them to negotiate a retreat. It is unclear whether the agreement will apply to civilians, though the United Nations reported mass executions just before the agreement was officially announced.
“The agreement is for the fighters to leave,” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the BBC. “The civilians, they can stay, they can go to safe places, they can take advantage of the humanitarian arrangements that are on the ground. Nobody is going to harm the civilians.”
Churkin denied the execution allegations.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon appealed to the Security Council, of which Russia is a member, calling for a halt to the mass executions.
“Immediate task at hand is to stop the carnage [in Aleppo],” he told the Council.
Russia often uses its veto power in the council to prevent any U.N. response to the atrocities in Syria.
Secretary of State John Kerry met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov three times Thursday to discuss the upcoming agreement. Lavrov claimed that he and Kerry reached an agreement to determine “the ways and methods of a final settlement of the eastern Aleppo problem through the departure of all militants and those residents, who will wish to do so, from there.”
Aleppo is the primary battlefield in the five-year-long Syrian civil war. The city drew international attention after Russia and Assad engaged in merciless air strikes against civilian targets. The loss of the city will likely be a major blow to the rebel movement.
Despite the loss of Aleppo, the White House declared the agreement a victory before it was even finalized.
“If that occurs, we obviously would welcome that development,” said White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest Thursday regarding the agreement. “It won’t be some sort of accident or coincidence … it will be the product and the result of skilled, principled, tough, tenacious diplomacy and much of the credit will go to Secretary Kerry.”
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