US 'very concerned' about Aleppo

TThe United States has expressed concern about the situation in the Syrian northern city of Aleppo but refused to compare between the situation in this troubled country and what happened in Libya last year. "We are very concerned about the situation in Aleppo. The assault that Assad's forces have been perpetrating on the civilian population center is heinous, reprehensible. The kinds of weaponry they are using against unarmed civilians demonstrate the depths of depravity to which Assad has sunk," said White House press secretary Jay Carney in a press briefing, late on Friday. He further refused the analogy between Syria and Libya, noting that there was "a broader array of issues that allowed for the kind of action that the international community, led by the United States, was able to take in Libya. There was the imminent assault. There was the call from the opposition, the unified opposition, for international action. There was international consensus both at the level of the United Nations Security Council as well as regional consensus through the Arab League". Carney noted that the U.S. has been "very blunt about our disappointment with the Russians and the Chinese and the fact that they have vetoed the three meaningful resolutions that were put before the United Nations Security Council with regard to Syria and Assad. That is why we are working beyond the Security Council now, with the Friends of Syria, other international partners, to try to build consensus to further isolate and pressure Assad." "It is why we are continuing to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, why we are continuing to provide nonlethal assistance to the opposition, why we are working with our partners with the opposition to help the opposition unify and take steps to fulfill the plan they put forward not long ago", he added. Carney called on the members of the international community "with a stake in the future of the region and of Syria to recognize that siding with Assad is allying yourself with a tyrant, is ensuring that the Syrian people will remember your assistance to Assad long beyond Assad's removal from power or disappearance from the scene. And we continue to make that case". He further noted that on the issue of chemical weapons, "there is no question that we share the point of view that they should never be used, that the Syrian government not only must not use those weapons but must maintain control of them, and any failure to do that will result in those responsible being held accountable by the international community". "We are concerned about the disposition of the weapons. We believe that the stockpiles remain under Syrian government control any use of those weapons, any failure to safeguard those stockpiles would be a very serious transgression that would result in those responsible being held accountable", he concluded.