UK representative for Syria: Russia focused on decimating the opposition in Aleppo

Britain accused Russia of conducting a “scorched earth policy” against Syrian opposition fighters and civilians during last week’s attempted peace talks in Geneva, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Gareth Bayley, UK’s special representative for Syria, said in a statement released on Twitter on Tuesday that “Russia deliberately focused on decimating the opposition in Aleppo” as opposing sides gathered in Geneva for UN-sponsored talks.

“It cannot continue to claim a seat at the table whilst deliberately bombing the moderate opposition and killing civilians in blatant breach of international humanitarian law,” Bayley’s statement said.

His statement read: “Reports of over 300 air strikes maiming and killing not just moderate opposition forces – who were represented in Geneva, and who we believe represent part of the future of Syria – but large numbers of civilians."

“The objective of this scorched earth policy is clear – eradicate the moderate opposition and strengthen Assad’s negotiating position.”

Bayley also published a UK government map of Russian airstrikes in Syria during the Geneva peace talks, which appeared to show that relatively few of its warplanes were targeting ISIS, Pakistan News reported.

The map showed a heavy concentration of Russian strikes around Aleppo, some distance away from the nearest ISIS-controlled territory, Alaturka E-newspaper reported.