Obama, Merkel demand end to Syrian regime's bombings

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

Peace in Syria requires the consent of the people but the Bashar al-Assad regime cannot purchase people’s consent through killing them, outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday.

Speaking at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Obama expressed determination to continue supporting a democratic transition in Syria, but did not sound optimistic about a political solution in the immediate future.

“It would be naive of me to suggest that there is going to be a sudden, 180-degree turn in policy by either Assad or Russia, or Iran at this point,” he told reporters.

“But we are going to continue to make the argument. We are going to continue to try to find humanitarian steps that can reach the people there. We are going to continue to try to obtain cessations of hostilities that lessen the human tragedy,” Obama said.

Obama criticized Russia for providing military support to the Assad regime, which he accused of using “barbarous tactics” to crush the Syrian opposition, and for indiscriminately bombing cities controlled by rebel forces.

“But ultimately the way this is going to be resolved is going to have to be a recognition by Russia and [a] willingness to pressure Assad that a lasting, durable peace with a functioning country requires the consent of the people. You cannot purchase people’s consent by killing them,” he said.

The Obama administration has long supported moderate opposition forces in Syria but refrained from direct military intervention to avoid a long and costly ground war.

Airstrikes condemned

While President-elect Donald Trump’s Syria policy remains unclear, Assad has recently called him “a natural ally” against terrorist groups -- the name he uses not only for Daesh but also for all opposition forces.

Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly condemned the air bombardments of the Syrian regime and underlined that Assad could not be part of a long-term political solution.

“Assad as president has actively tried to kill his own people with barrel bombs, in a most terrible way,” Merkel told reporters at the joint news conference with Obama.

“When we talk to refugees who have fled to here [Germany], they will be able to tell you their own personal story…and the great majority of them fled from Assad; most of them did not even flee from the IS [Daesh],” she said.

Ninety-four civilians have been killed in airstrikes on besieged districts of eastern Aleppo over the past 48 hours, local civil defense sources said Thursday.

Following three weeks of relative calm, opposition-held parts of Aleppo have come under fierce bombardment since Tuesday afternoon.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests -- which erupted as part of the "Arab Spring" uprisings -- with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.

On Sept. 30 last year, Russia launched an extensive air campaign in Syria with the aim of propping up the embattled regime of the Syrian leader.