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UN Security Council to Discuss Syria Situation

by Margaret Besheer

   UNITED NATIONS --

   The United Nations Security Council is meeting Thursday afternoon to
   discuss the situation in Syria's besieged eastern Ghouta, but no vote
   has been set yet on a resolution calling for a 30-day humanitarian
   pause.
   Negotiations on a Kuwaiti-Swedish draft text have been difficult,
   diplomats said.
   "There should be an urgent decision," Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog
   told reporters. "I am keen there is a decision. That's more important
   than the vote. I hope the vote will be successful, but it is very, very
   difficult."
   "We have a good text that is solid," French envoy Francois Delattre
   said. "That contains everything we need, the tool box we need to move
   ahead and to avoid tragedy in Syria and eastern Ghouta to continue."

   Russia has expressed concerns about the text, which calls for a 30-day
   nationwide cessation of hostilities, access for access for weekly U.N.
   humanitarian aid convoys and emergency medical evacuations.
   In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by Sputnik news
   agency as saying he would consider the draft resolution, but that the
   cease-fire "must not at all" include Islamic State or the
   al-Qaida-linked group the Nusrah Front or those factions that are
   cooperating with them.
   Russia requested Thursday's open meeting of the council.
   In Geneva, the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told the
   Reuters news agency that he hopes the Security Council will approve the
   proposed cease-fire, saying there is no alternative to halting the
   fighting and allowing humanitarian access.
   "I hope it will. But it is uphill," de Mistura said. "It is very
   urgent."
   On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the
   council to approve the cease-fire, and especially to help the 400,000
   besieged residents of eastern Ghouta, whom he said, "live in hell on
   Earth."

   Last year, the enclave was designated as one of four "de-escalation
   zones" in a deal with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's supporters,
   Russia and Iran, along with Turkey.
   Fighting has escalated as the Syrian military and its allied forces
   appear to be launching an all-out operation to re-take eastern Ghouta,
   which is one of the last areas near Damascus still under control of the
   armed opposition.
   The U.N. human rights office said Wednesday at least 346 people have
   died in eastern Ghouta since February 4.
   The U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, said every council member
   should support the cease-fire measure, while criticizing pro-government
   attacks on eastern Ghouta that she said "grow worse by the day."
   "It's time to take immediate action in hopes of saving the lives of the
   men, women, and children who are under attack by the barbaric Assad
   regime," Haley said in a statement. "It is simply preposterous to claim
   that these attacks on civilians have anything to do with fighting
   terrorism."
   "Assad and his deplorable regime must stop committing additional
   atrocities and must not be further abetted by backers in Moscow and
   Tehran," the White House said in a statement.