BBC Online :
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has urged the Security Council to act immediately to ensure more humanitarian access in war-torn Syria.
Calling for a resolution, she said it was “unacceptable” that both Damascus and rebels continued to “flagrantly” violate humanitarian law.
The council has been deadlocked over aid deliveries in Syria, where millions have been forced to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops resumed their attack on a key rebel town.
Map showing Yabroud and the Qalamoun mountains
Warplanes have been carrying out air strikes and artillery has been pounding Yabroud since Wednesday. The town is the last rebel stronghold in the Qalamoun mountains, near the Lebanese border.
There has been a surge in fighting across Syria in recent weeks, with both sides apparently trying to gain territory to strengthen
their hands in ongoing peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
The negotiations between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian opposition groups remain deadlocked, with both sides failing to even agree a common agenda on Wednesday.
The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, met US and Russian officials who, he said, assured him they would try to “unblock the situation”.
But he warned: “Failure is always staring at us in the face.”
Briefing the UN Security Council on Thursday, Baroness Amos said: “It is unacceptable that four months since the members of that Council demanded action, international humanitarian law continues to be consistently and flagrantly violated by all parties to the conflict.
“All parties are failing in their responsibility to protect civilians. We understand that a war is going on, but even wars have rules.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Nick Bryant, Baroness Amos said a UN-brokered ceasefire deal which has allowed civilians to be evacuated from the besieged Old City of Homs in the past few days did not offer a long-term solution.
UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has urged the Security Council to act immediately to ensure more humanitarian access in war-torn Syria.
Calling for a resolution, she said it was “unacceptable” that both Damascus and rebels continued to “flagrantly” violate humanitarian law.
The council has been deadlocked over aid deliveries in Syria, where millions have been forced to flee their homes.
Meanwhile, Syrian troops resumed their attack on a key rebel town.
Map showing Yabroud and the Qalamoun mountains
Warplanes have been carrying out air strikes and artillery has been pounding Yabroud since Wednesday. The town is the last rebel stronghold in the Qalamoun mountains, near the Lebanese border.
There has been a surge in fighting across Syria in recent weeks, with both sides apparently trying to gain territory to strengthen
their hands in ongoing peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland.
The negotiations between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian opposition groups remain deadlocked, with both sides failing to even agree a common agenda on Wednesday.
The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, met US and Russian officials who, he said, assured him they would try to “unblock the situation”.
But he warned: “Failure is always staring at us in the face.”
Briefing the UN Security Council on Thursday, Baroness Amos said: “It is unacceptable that four months since the members of that Council demanded action, international humanitarian law continues to be consistently and flagrantly violated by all parties to the conflict.
“All parties are failing in their responsibility to protect civilians. We understand that a war is going on, but even wars have rules.”
Speaking to the BBC’s Nick Bryant, Baroness Amos said a UN-brokered ceasefire deal which has allowed civilians to be evacuated from the besieged Old City of Homs in the past few days did not offer a long-term solution.
