United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley addresses the U.N. Security Council on Syria during a meeting of the Council at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Segar United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley issued a stark warning to Russia, Iran and Syria on Mar. 12 over the recent bombings in Syria: the United States is ready to take action if need be.
At the United Nations Security Council, Haley explained that Russia had been constantly blocking efforts to reach a ceasefire in Syria stopping Bashar al-Assad’s forces from striking the Eastern Ghouta area of Damascus. Russia eventually relented and agreed to a ceasefire, but only because they had a heavy say in each syllable of the agreement.
Haley proceeded to accuse the Russians of violating the agreement by taking advantage of a provision that allows for military strikes to take out terrorists.
“In the eyes of Russia, Iran and Assad, the neighborhoods of Eastern Ghouta are full of terrorists,” Haley said. “The hospitals are full of terrorists. The schools are full of terrorists. The Syrian and Russian regimes insist that they are targeting terrorists, but their bombs and artillery continue to fall on hospitals and schools and on innocent civilians.”
Haley then stated that the U.S. is producing a new ironclad ceasefire agreement that doesn’t feature any loopholes for the Assad regime to use against their own people. If the Security Council is unable to adopt the resolution, then the U.S. is ready to take matters into their own hands.
“Any nation that is determined to impose its will through chemical attacks and inhuman suffering – most especially the outlaw Syrian regime – the United States remains prepared to act if we must,” Haley said. “It is not the path we prefer, but it is a path we have demonstrated we will take, and we are prepared to take it again.”
Russia is standing by its defense that they’re simply weeding out terrorism in the area and is claiming that they are attempting to implement the current ceasefire agreement.
Israeli Forum for Regional Thinking Research Fellow Elizabeth Tsurkov explained in a Twitter thread how “horrific” the situation is in Eastern Ghouta:
The situation in eastern Ghouta is truly horrific. Locals are reporting the numerous families are buried under the rubble and civil defense are unable to dig them out. Russian and regime jets & helicopters pounded the besieged enclave non-stop.
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 11, 2018
People are terrified and fatalistic, saying goodbyes to their friends as they await death.
Many civilians are taking up arms to defend their neighborhoods, but regime forces continue advancing. Ghouta has been severed into 3 pockets or is on the verge of being severed.— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 11, 2018
Civilians are not leaving the underground shelters in which they're staying, relying on animal feed to survive.
People are terrified, false rumors are spreading like fire. Thousands of displaced civilians from towns captured by the regime have fled into rebel-held towns.— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 11, 2018
There's a terrible stench in the streets of eastern Ghouta due to bodies buried under the rubble. Civil Defense teams are working around the clock to rescue victims but mostly to collect bodies. Hospitals are barely functioning, any semi-serious injury results in death.
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 11, 2018
Activist in Ghouta express defiance and readiness to die and not be displaced from their land, but many ordinary civilians simply want the bombs to stop, even if it means living under a regime that starved and gassed them with Sarin.
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 11, 2018
The high death-toll recorded in eastern Ghouta now (dozens of deaths documented each day in a small territory) is underestimating the actual number of casualties. Many corpses are buried under the rubble. See for example this family in Saqba https://t.co/sek83vgT6J
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 11, 2018
It's becoming harder & harder to communicate with people inside eastern Ghouta, as people are running out of gasoline for generators & do not leave basements with poor reception due to non-stop shelling.
Civilians are running out of water, let alone other basic necessities— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 12, 2018
Civilians are incredibly desperate. Some of my contacts are teetering on the verge of insanity. They are hungry, terrified & death is all around them. Many are praying for deliverance, after giving up hope that any humans would stop the horrors inflicted on them.
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 12, 2018
Others just await death, almost hoping for it.
The sense of community is incredibly strong in some cases, with people sharing whatever they have left & civilians acting as nurses and caregivers for strangers. But there are disagreements too.— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 12, 2018
Some civilians, realizing that Assad's forces are about to take over, are attempting to display their loyalty to the regime in public protests with regime flags, hoping this would prevent their future arrest, executions. Hatred toward the local factions is quite widespread too.
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 12, 2018
There are rumors, probably true, that both Faylaq al-Rahman & Jaysh al-Islam are negotiating w the regime despite public pronouncements that they won't. Most civilians seem to be in the dark. Some contacts say the regime is offering the rebels to stay & become its militias.
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 12, 2018
Photo reportedly from Douma today of a mass grave not in the cemetery, which was too far away and non-stop bombings made it too dangerous to carry the bodies there. Instead civilians bury bodies in parks and school yards, which are closer & slightly safer https://t.co/KBenkQBO8W
— Elizabeth Tsurkov🌻 (@Elizrael) March 12, 2018
The Assad regime is essentially a client-state of Russia and Iran. Russia has been controlling the Syrian civil war since 2015 in the absence of a serious U.S. presence in the region, although there are issues surfacing for the Kremlin as their forces seemed to be bogged down in Syria for the foreseeable future. Syria is a key ally for Tehran, as the country serves as a route for Iran to arm their terror proxy Hezbollah.
In April 2017, the Trump administration launched airstrikes against the Assad regime for its barbaric use of chemical weapons against its own people.
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