| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria is bleeding amid political jockeying and grandstanding |
| 2016-09-30 |
| Nothing gets past the UN these days GENEVA (UN) – In an impassioned appeal to the Security Council, the top United Nations relief official called on the global body’s primary organ for maintenance of peace and security to act immediately to end the bloodshed in Syria so that humanitarian assistance is able to reach those who desperately need it. “Syria is bleeding. Its citizens are dying. We all hear their cry for help. As humanitarians we are doing all we can,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the 15-member Council Thursday. He added that last week, even as world leaders discussed Syria at high-level meetings and during the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate, violence intensified in the war-torn middle-eastern country and more civilians and aid workers were killed. “It is time to place blame. It is time this Council stops tolerating the utter disregard for the most basic provisions of international humanitarian law,” Mr. O’Brien underscored. Recounting the intensification of fighting across the country and in particular in eastern Aleppo, the UN official stressed: “This is not an unforeseen result of forces beyond our control. This is due to the action of parties to the conflict and it is the direct result of inaction – be it through unwillingness or inability – by the international community, including most notably those present in this chamber.” According to the United Nations’ aid chief, the situation in Syria is a critical test of the “capacity and willingness” of the members of the Security Council to make a decision and take action and to uphold the words of the UN Charter “to save the Syrian people from the scourge of war.” The iconic city of Aleppo is the worst affected location in the country, where according to estimates, since the 22 September announcement by the Syrian Ministry of Defence that it would launch an offensive there, some 320 civilians were killed and 765 injured in the first days. It is particularly concerning that over 100 children have been killed. “These are not simply numbers to be added to a tally, these are individuals, family lives that we have collectively failed to save,” lamented Mr. O’Brien, who is also the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. He also drew attention to the alleged use of “bunker busting” bombs, which has reportedly caused mass destruction in an area that has already been decimated. “This means there are bodies of babies, children, women and men stuck unrecovered in the rubble of basements up to 20 metres down where they had taken refuge – and where they had been safe until the use of these recently introduced weapons,” he said. |
| Posted by:badanov |