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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a United Nations Security Council meeting Wednesday.
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Farnaz Fassihi at the United Nations and
Farnaz Fassihi
The Wall Street Journal
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- Farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com
Nathan Hodge and
Nathan Hodge
The Wall Street Journal
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Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow
Updated Sept. 21, 2016 8:40 p.m. ET
The U.S. and Russia argued on Wednesday over who killed aid workers in Syria as Washington pressed Moscow on a new plan to halt resurgent violence.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry proposed grounding all aircraft in northern Syria to eliminate any possibility of errant airstrikes and allow shipments of humanitarian aid. He told the United Nations Security Council the move would restore credibility after the collapse of a cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia.
“We can’t walk out of this room and say, ‘OK, we’re going to try to continue,’ or we’ll have a cease-fire that everybody knows can’t work,” Mr. Kerry said.
Any agreement would have to overcome an escalating battle over blame between the U.S. and Russia. Russia tried to counter what the U.S. said was evidence of its culpability in the Monday convoy attack by implying instead that a U.S. drone it said was in the vicinity might have launched the attack, which killed at least 12 people.
Related Video
The U.S. says Russian aircraft ‘evidently’ carried out the strike against an aid convoy heading for Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday. Russia has denied the accusation, saying its drone observed a pickup truck carrying a heavy mortar driving past the humanitarian convoy, suggesting Syrian rebels were to blame. Photo: Fox News
U.S. officials said surveillance tracked two Russian Su-24 jets from a base in Latakia, Syria, to the site of the strike.
Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, a Russian defense ministry spokesman, said a drone had been observed where the strike occurred, at an altitude of 11,800 feet, and that it had been launched from Incirlik Air Base in southeastern Turkey, which U.S. forces have used in the battle against Islamic State.
“Only its owners can answer the question of what this drone was doing at that exact place and in that specific time, and what instructions it had carried out,” Gen. Konashenkov said.
Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said there were no American or coalition aircraft, armed or unarmed, in the vicinity of the convoy strike at the time of the attack.
Russia has responded to the convoy attack in various ways. Late Monday, the Russian defense ministry said Russia and Syria weren’t conducting strikes against opposition forces. On Tuesday evening, the Russian military released what it said was drone footage of a pickup with a heavy mortar driving past the convoy.
The situation was reminiscent of Russia’s response to the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine in 2014. Russian state television broadcast a variety of explanations for the tragedy, including an alleged attack by a Ukrainian fighter plane and an assassination attempt against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The U.S. and its allies have blamed Russia or Russian-backed separatists for downing the plane.
The nations’ two top diplomats traded comments at the United Nations that showed the depth of the rancor between Washington and Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the chaos in the Middle East was a direct result of “foreign military interventions,” an apparent reference to U.S. interventions in the region.
Mr. Kerry said his Russian counterpart lived in a “parallel universe.” He also pointed to the difference between how the U.S. and Russia handled the recent events.
More
- U.S. Blames Russia for Attacking Aid Convoy in Syria (Video)
- U.N. Was Warned of Airstrikes Before Ill-Fated Convoy Left
- Russia, Syrian Regime Deny Carrying Out Aid Convoy Attack
- Airstrike on Syrian Mobile Emergency Unit Leaves Five Dead
He recounted various Russian accounts about the aid convoy attack, noting that at different times, officials said the strike was against fighters affiliated with the militant group formerly known as Nusra Front; that it actually was aimed at a nearby town; that a militants’ truck with a mounted gun was seen in the area; that the cargo caught fire; and that neither Russian nor Syrian planes had carried out the strike.
“Yes, the coalition did hit people on Saturday. We did it—a terrible accident. And within moments of it happening, we acknowledged it,” Mr. Kerry said. “We didn’t put out a bunch of obfuscating facts.”
The White House has blamed Monday’s incident on Russia. On Tuesday, Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, said “there only could have been two entities responsible, either the Syrian regime or the Russian government. In any event, we hold the Russian government responsible for airstrikes in this space.”
On Wednesday, Gen. Konashenkov responded directly to the U.S. official. “We’re clarifying this especially for Mr. Ben Rhodes: This type of drone can be used not only to monitor the situation, but also ... to conduct precision strikes on land targets.”
Mr. Kerry’s proposal to ground aircraft is, in effect, a new U.S. demand that would have to be accepted by Russia and Syria. The cease-fire that began on Sept. 12 was brokered by Washington and Moscow, a major Damascus ally.
The attack on the humanitarian convoy, and an airstrike over the weekend in which the U.S.-led coalition said it mistakenly killed dozens of Syrian government forces, threatened to scuttle the truce.
Diplomats said details of Mr. Kerry’s proposal were not yet clear. The U.S. views Mr. Kerry’s suggestion as a confidence-building measure that could get the cease-fire process back on track by grounding Syrian and Russian aircraft in areas such as Idlib, Aleppo and Daraya—areas where U.S. planes rarely fly and humanitarian aid is needed.
Mr. Kerry planned to meet Mr. Lavrov Wednesday evening, ahead of a meeting of the so-called International Syria Support Group on Thursday, the second this week.
At the U.N. meeting, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault proposed a collective monitoring unit that would watch and share violations of the cease-fire.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it was time to discuss a transition of power in Syria, and U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he had prepared a draft of a plan for such a transition that he intended to share with both sides of the conflict.
The proposals and counterproposals came as international powers, confronting the collapsing cease-fire and a resurgence of violence, held a special session on Syria.
But disagreement between the two big powers, aggravated by Monday’s attack on an international aid convoy, damped any prospect of optimism.
“The divisions inside Syria are amplified by regional divisions and mirrored in this Council,” said Mr. Ban. “Everything now depends on the renewal of the cessation of hostilities,” Mr. de Mistura said.
—Felicia Schwartz
and Gordon Lubold contributed to this article.
Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com and Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com
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