Rachel Smalley: World stands by as children in Syria are killed

Opinion

A ceasefire in Aleppo, or so we thought.

A precious day or two perhaps for some of the civilians to get out of that city - as long as there was a pause in the indiscriminate aerial bombing.

But, well, the bombing has begun again. That city is destroyed, and countless lives have been too.

And as that conflict drags on, what is confusing is who is fighting for who?

And where does the West sit in all of this?

Well, in the beginning, and this was over five years ago now, the Rebel force was made up of Syrians. It was part of the so-called Arab Spring, and the Rebels wanted a free and democratic Syria.

And the Americans, in the beginning, were helping to arm the Rebels getting weaponry in through Turkey. In the eyes of Barack Obama this was about democracy and freedom and many in the West threw their support behind the Rebels. They wanted what we have. Democracy.

But now, after more than five years, the Rebels are made up of splinter groups. The core desire for democracy is still there among the Rebels, but there are other groups also fighting Assad and Russia and that's why it gets confusing.

Isis is fighting Russia and the Regime. So is al-Qaeda and al-Nusra - al-Nusra is an offshoot of al-Qaeda. There are Afghani and Pakistani fighters in Syria too, presumably with some links to the Taliban. So it's a mess. An unchecked mess.

Washington publicly says it supports the National Coalition - that is Syria's main opposition political alliance. And it confirms that it is providing some assistance to 'moderate rebels' too, whoever they are. But Europe is involved too. The Germans, the French, the Brits.

But collectively they've lost Aleppo. Syria's biggest city. And Assad and Russia are now in control of that.

The carnage carries, in part, because of the situation in Washington right now. America can do nothing with its lame duck President. And Trump? Well, he's still putting together his administration.

And the UN Security Council. The body responsible for maintaining peace and preserving life? What's it doing? Nothing. Nothing because Russia is on the Council and will never agree to a UN resolution that doesn't favour Assad, or have Moscow's best interests at heart.

And so the indiscriminate killing, the use of chemical weapons continues. Women and children are gunned down in the streets.

And for what? Power. Assad refuses to walk away. The West refuses to get too involved. The UN is impotent.

And this is the question I ask time and again, but there's never an answer. Why is there no political or diplomatic will to stop this? Why does the world stand by when civilians - children - are killed?

Can anyone tell me why that is?

Rachel Smalley hosts Early Edition on Newstalk ZB