A senior Russian diplomat rejected Wednesday a proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Syria.
According to Russian media reports, Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said any no-fly zone should be first approved by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and endorsed by the UN Security Council.
Merkel on Wednesday denounced the humanitarian situation in Syria as "unacceptable" and reiterated her call for a no-fly zone.
"The current situation remains unacceptable and it would be helpful if there was an area in Syria over which nobody could fly attacks," she told the German parliament.
"If we were able to reach an agreement between anti- and pro-Assad forces on a kind of no-fly zone, in the sense of a sanctuary for the many refugees, then this would save many lives and aid the political process about Syria's future,” Merkel continued.
The German chancellor first put forward the idea in an interview published on February 15.
The no-fly zone proposal comes as the Syrian army, backed by Russian airstrikes, continues an offensive on Aleppo. Earlier this week, Russia was accused of committing "an obvious war crime" when it struck a MSF hospital, leaving dozens dead.
Editor's note: This article has been edited from the source material.
