Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

UNSC Holds Urgent Meeting on Syria Conflict with Calls for Truce

UNSC Holds Urgent Meeting on Syria Conflict with Calls for Truce

UNITED NATIONS - During a testy -- including a walkout -- emergency Security Council meeting on Sunday called in wake of "one of the worst" weeks in Syria in nearly six years of fighting, the UN special envoy vowed to continue his role but pleaded with the panel "to enforce a cessation of hostilities (CoH) in Syria."
The walkout, by the ambassadors of France, Britain and the United States, occurred while Syria's Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari near the end of the 2 1/2 hour session on the increased Syrian attacks on "terrorists" in his country's "second capital," said, "The Syrian government will recapture the whole town of Aleppo. The entire town."
"These are indeed chilling days," said Staffan de Mistura, the UN special envoy, for Syria and "for the people of Aleppo in particular. The past week has been one of the worst ones in Syria during the near six years of this devastating conflict."
He asked the council to press for a cessation of the violence and protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, weekly 48-hour pauses in the fighting for aid convoys "without preconditions neither from the government nor frankly from the opposition" and "to press for medical evacuations ... from eastern Aleppo."
"Amid intensive air strikes reported on Friday, following the announcement of the beginning of a government offensive, an announcement was made by the government itself," de Mistura said, resulting in "scores of reported civilian deaths and injuries, including those of many children." (Xinhua)