Turkey's foreign minister and his Arab counterparts in the Gulf on Thursday condemned "indiscriminate" air strikes on Syria's Aleppo and expressed "deep regret" at the UN's inability to stop the raids. The concerns came in a statement closing a meeting in the Saudi capital between Ankara's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his counterparts from the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
Russian and Syrian warplanes are backing a large-scale offensive by Syrian government forces against rebel-controlled east Aleppo. More than 70 civilians died on Tuesday and Wednesday alone in air strikes and regime artillery fire on eastern Aleppo districts, a monitoring group said.
"Ministers condemned the escalation of military operations in Aleppo by the regime and its supporters through indiscriminate air raids against the civilian population and infrastructure," the GCC-Turkey communique said. New Zealand, one of 10 non-permanent UN Security Council members, on Wednesday presented a draft resolution demanding an end to air attacks in Aleppo.
The council earlier failed to adopt two resolutions on a ceasefire in Syria, one of which was vetoed by Russia during a stormy meeting at the weekend. Gulf ministers and their Turkish counterpart "expressed their deep regret for the inability of the UN Security Council to make a decision to stop the air campaign and the bombing of civilians in Aleppo", their statement said.
The foreign ministers of GCC members Saudi Arabia and Qatar, along with Cavusoglu, are to join US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Saturday for the latest diplomatic push to settle the conflict. Despite differences over Syria, Russia and Turkey have been pursuing closer ties. Ankara has staunchly backed Syria's opposition, as does the GCC, and both see no future for Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. At a news conference, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said the Gulf views the Ankara-Moscow rapprochement positively. "We see the reduction in tension between Turkey and Russia as perhaps an opportunity" that could help a solution in Syria.