Sweden and Kuwait on Thursday presented a revised draft UN Security Council resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria.
The move came against the background of military escalation by the Assad regime and its allies in many parts across Syria. The UN earlier described the escalation as the worst throughout the course of the war in Syria.
Diplomats said the change in the draft is aimed at obtaining Russia’s backing. A vote on the measure is expected next week.
The draft resolution specifies that the ceasefire would go into effect 72 hours after adoption by the council. Deliveries of urgently needed food and medical supplies would begin 48 hours after the start of the ceasefire as would medical evacuations, according to the text.
On February 6, representatives of the United Nations agencies in Syria earlier called for an urgent truce to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the evacuation of the wounded and sick from besieged areas.
The UN Security Council earlier this week failed to agree on a pervious draft resolution because of objection by Russia. Secretary of the Coalition’s political committee Mohammed Yahya Maktabi said that the response of international officials to the situation in Syria does not correspond with the size of responsibility placed on the UN and its institutions in the protection of civilians in times of war and crisis.
At a meeting with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in the Jordanian capital Amman on Wednesday, Head of the Syrian Negotiations Commission Nasr al-Hariri stressed the need for a firm international stance towards the Assad regime’s repeated use of chemical weapons and for confronting Iran’s growing influence in Syria. Assad regime forces have stepped up bombardment on towns and villages of eastern Ghouta since late December, killing and wounding hundreds of people.
According to the civil defense in eastern Ghouta, 234 civilians, including 66 children and 42 women, were killed in the ferocious bombardment on the Damascus suburb in the period between 1-8 February. It pointed out that 581 others were wounded, including 184 children and 120 women. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department)
