Hundreds of people were killed and more than a thousand others injured, including many children and women as a result of the ongoing assault by the Assad regime and its allies on the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta in the past four days. The UN Security Council on Friday delayed a vote on a demand for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria until Saturday evening.
Towns and villages of eastern Ghouta have been subjected to aerial and ground bombardment by the Assad regime and the Iranian militias with Russian aerial support although the area is covered by the ‘de-escalation zones’ agreement which was reached during the Astana talks in 2017.
Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, said that 400 people, including women and children, have been killed and over 1,000 have been injured by ground‑based attacks and air strikes in eastern Ghouta over the past four days.
“This week, the UN and its partners reported a total of 24 attacks on hospitals and health facilities (16 hospitals and 8 health centers), depriving tens of thousands of people of basic health services. At least two medical workers have also been killed,” Dujarric told a daily press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Friday.
“In addition, private bakeries in Misraba, which normally provide some 40,000 bread bags daily, have reportedly been damaged by air strikes. Bread is reportedly still available, but has increased 25‑fold in price.”
President of the UN Security Council On Friday called on the Council members to vote on a Kuwaiti-Swedish draft resolution demanding a ceasefire to distribute humanitarian aid in Syria nationwide and the medical evacuation of 700 people particularly in East Ghouta, which is under siege by the Assad regime forces.
The vote has been delayed many times since Thursday as negotiations between the member states continued without reaching a final agreement.
“We’re not going to give up. … I hope that we will adopt something forceful, meaningful, impactful tomorrow,” Olof Skoog, Sweden’s UN ambassador, told reporters. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
