BEIRUT (AP) — A top official with Syria’s main opposition says violence in northern Aleppo is reaching “genocidal proportions,” but that rebel-held parts of the city are not about to fall to government-led forces.
Bassma Kodmani of the High Negotiations Committee, a key player in U.N.-mediated peace talks that stalled in April, says “a large city like this cannot fall easily,” citing Homs to the south, which government forces took months to recapture.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Kodmani said: “We are not talking about a fall of Aleppo within days or even two to three weeks,” just “a level of violence against citizens that is reaching genocidal proportions.”
She lashed out at Russia, a key backer of President Bashar Assad, for allegedly “mocking” the United Nations and its efforts to reach peace
