Activists in the city of Deir Ezzor called for sparing civilians and ceasing the bombing of the city. They denied claims that civilians in the city constitute a social base for ISIS or its extremist ideology.
The activists called on the new UN Secretary-General António Guterres, members of the UN Security Council, the UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, the Arab League, sponsors of the cease-fire agreement, and the leadership of the international anti-ISIS coalition to shoulder their humanitarian, moral, and legal responsibilities to protect unarmed civilians in Deir Ezzor province and elsewhere in Syria.
A statement signed by activists, intellectuals and civil, social, media, religious, political, and revolutionary bodies in Deir Ezzor province called for “stopping the killing of our brothers, children and our women in Deir Ezzor.”
Around 600,000 civilians currently live in Deir Ezzor city, which has been subjected to a two-fold siege by regime forces and the ISIS extremist group. Civilians trapped inside have been suffering siege and double shelling, including with internationally banned weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorous. ISIS has committed all types of atrocities as well as physical and psychological violence against civilians in the areas under its control, such as slaughter, burning people alive and forced disappearances, the statement said.
The statement called for protecting civilians in Deir Ezzor in line with humanitarian norms and international agreements, including the Geneva Conventions. It stressed that the people of Deir Ezzor have suffered the most at the hands of the ISIS extremist group.
The humanitarian aid airdropped by the UN to the people trapped in the neighborhoods of Joura and Qusour in Deir Ezzor was mostly seized by regime forces, the statement added. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office)
