UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has said the situation in the Eastern Ghouta is like “hell on Earth”.
The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow aid deliveries and medical evacuations.
The US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, called for the ceasefire to be implemented immediately but said she was sceptical that Syria would comply.
Haley claimed that the Assad regime had struck 19 health facilities since they began the bombing in eastern Ghouta on Sunday, a region that includes the historic city of Damascus.
Russia, an ally of Syria’s government, wanted changes, while Western diplomats accused Moscow of stalling for time.Russia has vetoed 11 draft resolutions on Syria to block action that targeted its ally.
Some 500 people are said to have been killed by government forces in the enclave since last Sunday while rebels fire on Damascus has reportedly killed at least 16 civilians.
The Syrian government has denied targeting civilians and said it is trying to liberate the Eastern Ghouta from “terrorists” – a term it has used to describe both the jihadist militants and the mainstream rebel groups that hold the enclave.
The U.N. estimated that 5.6 million people are in need of help, particularly the 2.9 million Syrians believed to be in “hard-to-reach and besieged locations.”
