"Humanitarian disaster" in Damascus suburbs, UNSC urges access for aid

 A medical source from the embattled Ghouta towns revealed death of 6 children at least because of famine and lack of food, "we are not in Somalia,'' the source said to Zaman Alwasl. '' People are dying under severe siege by Bassar al-Assad forces to rebel-held areas.

Two days ago, Syria's opposition warned of a "humanitarian disaster" in the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyet al-Sham, accusing the regime of a campaign to "starve and displace" its residents, AFP reported.

"Moadamiyet al-Sham is experiencing a humanitarian disaster," said the National Coalition.

President Bashar al-Assad's "regime is carrying out a systematic campaign to starve and displace Moadamiyet al-Sham and intensifying its destruction and demolition of residential buildings in the area," it said in a statement.

It warned the fighting between regime troops and rebel forces had caused the deaths of dozens of civilians and forced many to flee.

 The Coalition said the suburb southwest of the city had been under a regime siege for months creating food shortages that saw at least four children and three women starve to death.

Water supplies had been interrupted by bombardments, and schools closed down.

"The Coalition calls on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the besieged areas of Syria by opening safe humanitarian corridors," the statement said.

"The Coalition calls on international relief agencies to enter Moadamiyet al-Sham and deliver essential humanitarian aid to its residents and to evacuate hundreds of people who face death by starvation."

Moadamiyet al-Sham is one of several Damascus suburbs where rebels seeking to overthrow the Assad regime have set up rear bases from which to attack the capital.

They regularly fire mortar rounds from the city's outskirts into its centre, and regime forces have been trying for months to oust them from the area.

It was also one of the sites reportedly targeted in an August 21 sarin gas attack that killed hundreds of people and sparked international concern.

 The United States accused the regime of the attack, a charge it denied, and threatened military action in response.

Instead, Damascus agreed to a US-Russian deal under which it will turn over its chemical weapons arsenal for destruction.

UNSC urges provide access for aid

Gravely concerned by the deepening “humanitarian tragedy” in Syria, the United Nations Security Council yesterday urged the Syrian Government to immediately allow cross-border aid deliveries and called on all parties to the conflict to agree on humanitarian pauses in the fighting, including along “key routes” for relief convoys.

“The magnitude of the humanitarian tragedy caused by the conflict in Syria requires immediate action to facilitate safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance” across the entire country, the 15-member body said in a presidential statement which also deplored the escalating violence that has already killed more than 100,000 people and driven some 6.5 million others from their homes.

The Council condemned widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by the Syrian authorities, as well by armed groups and called on all parties to immediately end such violations in a country that has been torn apart by increasingly brutal violence since opposition protesters first sought the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad in March, 2011.

The Council noted with “grave concern” the fact that several million Syrians need “immediate humanitarian assistance, and without urgent increased humanitarian action, their lives will be at risk.” Gravely alarmed, it called on Damascus to take immediate steps to facilitate the expansion of humanitarian relief operations, and lift bureaucratic impediments and other obstacles, and voiced “deep concern” at the consequences of the refugee crisis caused by the conflict, “which has a destabilizing impact on the entire region.”

Further, the Council urged all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, to take all appropriate steps to facilitate the efforts of the UN, its specialized agencies and all humanitarian actors engaged in relief activities, to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to the affected people in Syria, including by “promptly facilitating safe and unhindered humanitarian access to populations in need of assistance in all areas under their control and across conflict lines.”

“The Security Council recalls that all obligations under international humanitarian law must be respected in all circumstances,” it added in the statement, which called on all sides to immediately end all violence and attend a peace conference to facilitate a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people.

The Council said it was “appalled” by the level of violence, including sexual and gender-based abuse, condemned increased terrorist attacks, and called for immediate action to facilitate safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance in the whole country, stressing that the Syrian authorities bear the primary responsibility to protect their populations.

It expressed appreciation for the significant efforts made by the neighbouring and regional countries, notably Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, to accommodate the more than two million refugees who have fled Syria.

“The Security Council also urges all Member States to respond swiftly to the United Nations’ humanitarian appeals to meet the spiralling needs of people inside Syria, in particular internally displaced persons, and Syrian refugees in neighbouring countries, and to ensure that all pledges are honoured in full,” the statement declared.

“It further urges all Member States, in coordination with international financial institutions and United Nations agencies, to increase their support to address the increasing political, socio-economic and financial impact of the refugee crisis on hosting countries.”

Speaking to the press in New York following the Council’s action, Valerie Amos, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator welcomed the statement saying: “We need the whole international community to come together to work to bring an end to this crisis.”

“This consensus statement clearly calls on all parties to do their utmost to end the violence and stop targeting civilians. It also reminds them that they must facilitate the swift provision of vital humanitarian aid and that there are serious consequences for violating international humanitarian and human rights law,” she said, adding: “Our task now is to turn these strong words into meaningful action for the children, women and men who are the victims of the continued brutality and violence.”

“I and my colleagues in the humanitarian and human rights fields have called many times over the past two and a half years for unhindered access to help us get aid to people in desperate need, many of whom are in areas we have not been able to reach for months,” Ms. Amos said, adding that humanitarian actors have also called on the warring parties to protect civilians from the brutal fighting and violence - to stop targeting vital civilian services like schools, shops and hospitals, and to stop violating human rights.

“We have also continued to ask for increased support to the millions of families who have fled to neighbouring countries and for the communities supporting them,” Ms. Amos said, also emphasizing that people must be able to seek safety from the violence and know that their homes, hospitals and schools are safe.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also welcomed the Council’s statement, which he said illustrates the commitment of the international community to support the people caught up in the Syrian crisis.

“The Secretary-General notes that if the commitments and practical steps outlined in the statement are implemented, humanitarian workers will be able to reach millions of Syrians in desperate need, many of whom have been unreachable for months,” according to a statement issues by the UN chief’s spokesperson in New York.