The United Nations Security Council Wednesday called for a ceasefire to be implemented across Syria and expressed concern about the country's humanitarian situation, Netherlands U.N. Ambassador and council president for March Karel van Oosterom said.
"The cessation of hostilities was discussed. The Security Council reiterated its call for implementation of resolution 2401," van Oosterom said. The 15-member council unanimously demanded a 30-day truce across Syria on Feb. 24.
He was speaking after the Security Council was briefed behind closed doors on the situation in Syria at the request of Britain and France.
Wednesday's air strikes on eastern Ghouta near Damascus brought the death toll for Wednesday's bombardment on the rebel-held enclave near Damascus to 45, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
At least 18 of the day's victims were killed in strikes carried out by Russian warplanes, the Britain-based monitor added..
Regime forces carried out punishing airstrikes against the opposition-held suburb of Damascus Wednesday, seeking to divide the besieged enclave in two and further squeeze rebels and tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside, state-run media and opposition activists reported.
The regime, determined to wrest the suburbs from the control of rebels after seven years of war, has resorted to extreme levels of shelling and bombardment to clear the way for its troops to advance on the ground.
The state-affiliated al-Ikhbariya TV station on Wednesday broadcast live shots from the region, showing dense columns of smoke rising above the town as explosions and rockets could be heard flying overhead. SANA news agency said troops were on the outskirts of Misraba, a rebel-held town in the heart of the enclave.
A local media center in Ghouta and senior rebel commander n Jaish al-Islam denied any advances by regime, saying rebels who are showing fierce resistance have thwarted the reliable attempt to seize parts of the embattled enclave.
Dramatic videos released by the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense on Wednesday showed rescuers digging away hard-packed rubble to rescue a dust-covered little boy and a baby girl in the town of Arbeen.
In Geneva, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein denounced claims by Syria's regime that it's doing all it can to protect civilians as "frankly ridiculous," while its forces lead "indiscriminate, brutal attacks" in eastern Ghouta.
In his annual report to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Zeid Raad al-Hussein said the government's actions in the area were "legally and morally unsustainable", while warning the next nightmare for Syrian civilians would inevitably arrive soon.
"This month, it is eastern Ghouta which is, in the words of the Secretary General, hell on earth; next month or the month after, it will be somewhere else where people face an apocalypse - an apocalypse intended, planned and executed by individuals within the government, apparently with the full backing of some of their foreign supporters," Zeid told the council.
Syria's war, he said, has entered a "new phase of horror" - notably in eastern Ghouta, in the rebel-held Idlib province in the northwest, and around northern Afrin, where he said a Turkish offensive is threatening many civilians.
Civilians are not safe anywhere in eastern Ghouta, and aid workers who entered briefly on Monday said some residents hadn't seen sunlight for two weeks because they were sheltering underground.
At least 800 civilians have been killed since the offensive started Feb. 18, according to the Observatory. Russia's military by its own admission is playing a key role supporting the assault.
Exclusive footage from Eastern Ghouta as the U.N. human rights chief says the Syrian regime is orchestrating an "apocalypse" in the stricken suburbs.
Russia's military announced Monday it was offering safe passage for rebels and their families out of eastern Ghouta, where some 400,000 people have been trapped under a relentless government campaign of shelling and airstrikes.
Rebel spokesman Wael Olwan dismissed the offer on Tuesday, saying it was "psychological warfare."
Olwan said Wednesday that rebels had plugged their defensive lines after they crumbled in the early days of the assault.
The opposition generally rejects evacuation agreements, saying they amount to demographic engineering - a tactic through which the government forcibly displaces its opponents.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged all parties to abide by a 30-day cease-fire ordered by the Security Council on Feb. 24 to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians in desperate need. A rare humanitarian aid convoy made it to eastern Ghouta on Monday but was forced to cut short its mission amid severe bombardment by the government. It was not clear whether another convoy, planned for Thursday, would go through. Aid agencies said they were negotiating security guarantees ahead of the mission.
The Security Council was expected to meet Wednesday to address the stillborn cease-fire.
Zaman Al Wasl, Agencies
Reuters
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