[Mhiz Rebecca]

Bombing raids have killed more Syrians in the
besieged enclave of eastern Ghouta before a
delayed UN vote on a ceasefire to allow medical
and food aid to reach civilians.
Nearly a week into one of the most fierce assaults
of Syria’s long civil war, over 520 people were dead
and thousands more injured, Médecins Sans
Frontières said.
Many of the bombing raids
have targeted medical
buildings, and doctors in the
remaining facilities are
struggling to keep up with the
stream of severely injured
patients.
The scale of the attacks from barrel bombs and
other missiles was making it hard to find and count
the dead, rescuers said.
The civil defence rescue service, known as the
White Helmets, said it had documented at least 350
deaths in the first four days of the attacks.
“Maybe there are many more,” Siraj Mahmoud, a
spokesman for the group told Reuters. “We weren’t
able to count the martyrs yesterday or the day
before because the warplanes are touring the
skies.”
Most people who had escaped death or injury were
hiding in underground bunkers with little or no
electricity, and low food supplies.
“The situation is disastrous, kids didn’t eat for two
days in a row,” one activist said. “Local councils
cannot even provide meals for children. The adults
might be able to endure but the kids can’t.
“We have large numbers of babies under the age of
six months lacking formula, whose mothers [don’t
have milk] to breastfeed them. Generally we have
large numbers of kids aged between six months and
five years with nothing to eat.”
Doctors and medical activists from around the
world called for an end to the violence, protection
for civilians, and greater action from the UN, in a
joint appeal published in the Lancet .
The group represented medical centres from
Harvard to Britain’s Royal Free hospital, Panzi
hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
and the Syrian American Medical Society.
“Inaction in the face of unrelenting attacks on
civilians represents an epic failure of world
leaders,” the appeal said. It condemned “patterns of
attacks, which predominantly target civilian areas,
and demonstrate a position that all civilians in
opposition-held areas are legitimate targets”.
On Friday, the UN security council failed to agree
on a proposed 30-day ceasefire across Syria, to
allow for emergency humanitarian deliveries and
medical evacuations, because of Russian objections.
Intense talks at the UN headquarters in New York
followed a direct appeal by French and German
leaders to Vladimir Putin for Russia to support a
ceasefire, but a vote was pushed back several times
as talks stalled.
In an apparent attempt to win Moscow’s support,
Kuwait and Sweden, who are sponsors of the draft
resolution, dropped a demand for the ceasefire to
take effect 72 hours after the resolution passed.
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, has said
an immediate ceasefire is unrealistic. A new text
only demands that all parties halt fighting “without
delay”.
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