(Zaman Al Wasl)- Local councils of the embattled Eastern Ghouta district near Damascus warned of a humanitarian crisis as regime forces step up its ground and aerial attacks, calling on International Community to preserve the U.N.-brokered ceasefire deal, according to statement issued Friday.
The statement said at least 2500 families in the southern strip of Ghouta suburbs are facing deteriorating living conditions after three years of severe siege.
The Cessation of Hostilities deal that went into effect on Feb.27 have has brought a gleam of hope dispite more than 2000 violations by the Syrian regime.
The local councils have also called on U.N. aid agencies to provide the urgent aid and medicine to the besieged towns east of Damascus.
On Friday, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, has vowed to take fragile peace talks into next week despite a walkout by the main armed opposition, a breakdown in a truce and signs that both sides are gearing up to escalate the five-year-old war.
De Mistura, who dismissed the opposition's departure as "diplomatic posturing", expected the delegation to return to the negotiating table. The opposition declared a "pause" this week because of a surge in fighting and too little movement from the government side on freeing detainees or allowing in aid.
Asked whether talks would carry on, de Mistura said on Thursday night: "We cannot let this drop. We have to renew the ceasefire, we have to accelerate humanitarian aid and we are going to ask the countries which are the co-sponsors to meet."
The talks at U.N. headquarters in Geneva aim to halt a conflict that has allowed for the rise of the Islamic State group, sucked in regional and major powers and created the world's worst refugee crisis.
In an interview with French-language Radio Television Suisse (RTS), de Mistura said 400,000 people had been killed in the war, far higher than the previous U.N. toll which has varied from 250,000 to 300,000. (With Reuters)
The statement said at least 2500 families in the southern strip of Ghouta suburbs are facing deteriorating living conditions after three years of severe siege.
The Cessation of Hostilities deal that went into effect on Feb.27 have has brought a gleam of hope dispite more than 2000 violations by the Syrian regime.
The local councils have also called on U.N. aid agencies to provide the urgent aid and medicine to the besieged towns east of Damascus.
On Friday, Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, has vowed to take fragile peace talks into next week despite a walkout by the main armed opposition, a breakdown in a truce and signs that both sides are gearing up to escalate the five-year-old war.
De Mistura, who dismissed the opposition's departure as "diplomatic posturing", expected the delegation to return to the negotiating table. The opposition declared a "pause" this week because of a surge in fighting and too little movement from the government side on freeing detainees or allowing in aid.
Asked whether talks would carry on, de Mistura said on Thursday night: "We cannot let this drop. We have to renew the ceasefire, we have to accelerate humanitarian aid and we are going to ask the countries which are the co-sponsors to meet."
The talks at U.N. headquarters in Geneva aim to halt a conflict that has allowed for the rise of the Islamic State group, sucked in regional and major powers and created the world's worst refugee crisis.
In an interview with French-language Radio Television Suisse (RTS), de Mistura said 400,000 people had been killed in the war, far higher than the previous U.N. toll which has varied from 250,000 to 300,000. (With Reuters)
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