U.N. Security Council to meet on Aleppo amid atrocity accusations

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will brief the U.N. Security Council on Syria's under-siege city of Aleppo on Tuesday amid accusations by western countries of atrocities against civilians as the Syrian army advances. Ban is scheduled to brief the 15-member council at about 12 p.m. (1700 GMT), diplomats said, at the request of Britain and France. A Syrian military source said the last rebel pocket could fall "at any moment". "In these darkest hours for Aleppo it's never too late to do anything we can to save lives," French U.N. Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters. "We have credible reports of brutal murders of families and summary executions, including women and children." The United Nations said on Tuesday it had reports that Syrian soldiers and allied Iraqi fighters had summarily shot dead 82 civilians in recaptured districts of Aleppo, which was Syria's largest city before the civil war began nearly six years ago. The Syrian army has denied carrying out killings or torture among those captured. Its main ally Russia said that it was rebels who had "kept over 100,000 people as human shields". Russia has vetoed six Security Council resolutions on Syria. China joined Moscow in vetoing five of those resolutions. "We must do all we can to stop the carnage," Ban said ahead of the council meeting. "All fighters, particularly government forces and their allies, must honor their obligation to respect civilians and abide by the laws of war and human rights." British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said it was a grave day for the Security Council. "It demonstrates that when it is not united, when one or even two permanent members of the Security Council use their vetoes in such an abusive way you see what happens," Rycroft told reporters. A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 led to civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Half of Syria's 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed. A surrender or withdrawal of the rebels from Aleppo would mean the end of the rebellion in the city, delivering Assad his biggest battlefield victory. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; editing by Grant McCool)