De Mistura: Obama will do everything he can in Syria

UN Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan De Mistura, said that outgoing US President Barack Obama may keep working until his last day in office to end the war in Syria, and that Russia would not want to be held responsible for the demolition of eastern Aleppo.

In an interview with Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, De Mistura said: “President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are very motivated to end the greatest humanitarian tragedy of this century that has played out during their time in office. It’s about their legacy.”

On Tuesday, De Mistura expressed concern that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad could launch a “brutal” new offensive to crush rebel-held eastern Aleppo before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on 20 January.

He also said that the meetings held in Damascus recently have shown that the Syrian regime was encouraged by Trump’s comments during the campaign about ending support for the Syrian opposition.

However, he said that he reminded the Syrian leaders that any US president would be subject to great popular pressure if the situation ended in a human tragedy.

The UN Special Envoy also said that he believes Russia is serious in not wanting to be held responsible for destroying eastern Aleppo, adding that he believes Russia’s reiterations that it will not bomb any targets in eastern Aleppo.

However, he noted that Moscow also was not stopping or pressuring Syrian forces into ceasing their attacks against hospitals and civilian infrastructure in opposition-held areas of the city.