Russia says US ignored appeals for Syria chemical arms proof

Russia on Monday accused Washington of ignoring Moscow's appeals for proof of Syrian government involvement in chemical weapons attacks in Syria during the country's more than 2-1/2-year old civil war.
   
"Our requests for additional information which could prove the Syrian government involvement in the use of chemical weapons were ignored by Washington," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters after a closed-door meeting on chief U.N. chemical arms investigator Ake Sellstrom's final report.
   
Churkin said allegations about Syrian government involvement in chemical attacks, including an Aug. 21 sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people, "were not persuasive." He added that Moscow viewed the Aug. 21 incident as a massive provocation by rebels aiming to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the fighting in Syria must cease before political negotiations on a transitional government to restore peace to the war-ravaged country can commence.

"We must have a cessation of hostilities before we begin political dialogue on Syria in Geneva," Ban told reporters in New York. "This fighting must stop."
   
Representatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition fighting to oust him are scheduled to meet with peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi in Switzerland on Jan. 22 to discuss ways of ending the more than 2-1/2-year-old civil war.

Earlier, the United Nations appealed for $6.5 billion for Syria and neighboring countries on Monday to provide assistance to a total of 16 million people, many left hungry or homeless by the conflict soon entering its fourth year.

The Syrian appeal accounted for half of an overall funding plan of $12.9 billion to help 52 million people in 17 countries, launched on Monday by U.N. emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos at a meeting of donor countries in Geneva.
   
"The increasing number of internally displaced people and refugees is generating greater needs across all sectors and straining the capacities of neighboring countries, with profound regional consequences," the U.N. appeal said of the Syrian crisis.

Sweden:

Sweden's security police, SAPO, says at least 75 people have left the country to fight in Syria since mid-2012, more than doubling an estimate from earlier this year.
     
The figures presented Monday underscore a trend seen across Europe of fighters joining al-Qaeda-linked groups in Syria.
     
SAPO's chief counterterrorism analyst, Jonathan Peste, said those who travel from Sweden are mainly men aged between 18 and 30. Many are new recruits, who haven't been involved with militant Islamist groups before.
     
In April SAPO said it believed around 30 fighters had left Sweden for Syria.
     
Peste said the focus on Syria has led to a decrease of Swedish fighters being recruited to militant groups elsewhere, such as al-Shabab in Somalia.

On the field:

Seventy-six people, including 28 children, were killed on Sunday when Syrian army helicopters dropped "barrel bombs" on the northern city of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.        

Barrel bombs are explosive-filled cylinders or oil barrels, often rolled out of the back of helicopters with little attempt at striking a particular target but capable of causing widespread casualties and significant damage.        

The Britain-based Observatory said that rebel groups in Aleppo issued a statement asking civilians in government-held parts of the city to move away from state security buildings, which they said would be targeted in retaliation for the bombings.          

President Bashar al-Assad's forces, battling rebels in a 2-1/2 year conflict that has killed more than 100,000 people, frequently deploy air power and artillery against rebel-held districts across the country.           

They have been unable to recapture eastern and central parts of Aleppo, which rebels stormed in the summer of 2012, but they have driven rebel fighters back from towns to the southeast of the city in recent weeks.           

The conflict has grown sectarian, with majority Sunni rebels battling Assad's own Alawite sect and Shi'ite militia.          

The Observatory - which has a network of opposition, pro-government and medical sources - also said on Monday that rebels in northern Aleppo province were threatening to strike two Shi'ite villages they have surrounded with missiles if barrel bombs were used again by the army.            


REUTERS