Aleppo: US envoy asks Syria and its allies - 'Are you truly incapable of shame?'

United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Samantha Power, in a scathing attack on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies, has questioned their consciousness over ongoing bloody battle in Aleppo where reports of mass executions by pro-regime forces have surfaced.

"Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you? Is there no act of barbarism against civilians, no execution of a child that gets under your skin?" the CNN quoted Power, as saying yesterday in a speech at a UN Security Council Emergency Briefing on Syria.

She slammed her Syrian, Iranian and Russian counterparts for the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Aleppo.

"To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran -- three Member States behind the conquest of and carnage in Aleppo -- you bear responsibility for these atrocities. By rejecting UN-ICRC evacuation efforts, you are signaling to those militia who are massacring innocents to keep doing what they are doing," she said.

She added that, "denying or obfuscating the facts, as you will do today -- saying up is down, black is white -- will not absolve you. When one day there is a full accounting of the horrors committed in this assault of Aleppo -- and that day will come, sooner or later -- you will not be able to say you did not know what was happening. You will not be able to say you were not involved. We all know what is happening. And we all know you are involved."

She warned that Aleppo will join the ranks of those events in world history that define modern evil, that stain conscience decades later.

"To the Assad regime, Russia, and Iran, your forces and proxies are carrying out these crimes. Your barrel bombs and mortars and airstrikes have allowed the militia in Aleppo to encircle tens of thousands of civilians in your ever-tightening noose. It is your noose," she added.

Responding to Power's remarks, Russian envoy Vitaly accused her of acting like "Mother Teresa" despite America's "track record" in the Middle East.

"I wouldn't want to remind this Western trio [France, US, UK] which called for today's meeting and carried it out in a raised voice, about your role in the creation of ISIS as a result of US and UK intervention in Iraq," Churkin said.

"The weirdest speech to me was the one by the US representative which built her statement as if she is Mother Theresa herself. Please, remember which country you represent. Please, remember the track record of your country."

The UN Security Council meeting came as a Turkey-brokered ceasefire between government troops, regime-aligned militia and rebel forces in Aleppo was announced on Tuesday.

But activists said Wednesday that the ceasefire had already failed with shelling resuming on several rebel-held neighborhoods.