GENEVA: The UN called Thursday for an urgent cease-fire in Syria鈥檚 Eastern Ghouta region, near Damascus, to allow in desperately needed aid and avoid a repeat of the devastation seen in Aleppo.
鈥淲e need a 72-hour pause for Eastern Ghouta, and we need it in the coming days,鈥� the head of the UN-backed humanitarian task force for Syria, Jan Egeland, told reporters in Geneva.
He warned that some 400,000 people besieged in the area near Damascus 鈥渁re now suffering alone in the sense that they have a shortage of medical supplies, their hospitals have been bombed, and they are running out of food and other supplies.鈥�
Eastern Ghouta, the last remaining opposition stronghold near the capital, has been under a devastating government siege since 2012, and is targeted regularly by airstrikes and artillery.
During the weekly meeting of the humanitarian task force for Syria, co-chairs Russia and the US, along with others had agreed to 鈥渓ook specifically at the Eastern Ghouta situation,鈥� Egeland said.
鈥淓verybody agrees, including the Russians, that the situation there is very dire, and that a special ... agreement is needed for Eastern Ghouta,鈥� he said.
鈥淣obody wants another eastern Aleppo to be happening on our watch,鈥� he insisted, referring to the drawn-out siege and massive Syrian regime offensive last year to retake the former opposition stronghold.
鈥淲e should learn from the horrific inability to help civilians there, and I am still hopeful that we will have arrangements for the 400,000 people in the Eastern Ghouta besieged areas,鈥� Egeland said, pointing out that 鈥渢here are more people besieged east of Damascus city than there were in the east Aleppo besieged enclave.鈥�
Thursday鈥檚 task force meeting also discussed the suspected chemical attack that left at least 86 people dead, 30 of them children, in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhun in northwestern Syria earlier this week.
鈥淎 war where children suffocate to death because of toxic chemicals is a very, very dirty war,鈥� Egeland said.
Egeland stressed that he did not believe in a military solution to Syria鈥檚 six-year war, which has already killed more than 320,000 people and forced millions to flee their homes.
But 鈥渨hat I do welcome is a renewed interest from the US to focus on the carnage in Syria,鈥� he said.