West turns up heat on Assad as Ghouta civilians await aid
douma (syria) — Western powers turned up the heat on Damascus on Friday as tens of thousands of civilians in Syria’s battered rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta awaited desperately needed aid.
More than 600 civilians have been killed in the enclave outside Damascus since Russia-backed government forces launched an assault on February 18.
Eastern Ghouta’s 400,000 residents have lived under a government-imposed siege since 2013, facing severe food and medicine shortages even before the latest offensive.
The UN Human Rights Council was to hold an emergency session later on Friday on the crisis, as dozens of aid trucks remained unable to enter the enclave.
The United States, Germany and France upped the pressure on Damascus after a UN Security Council demand for a ceasefire failed to stem the fighting.
US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a phone call that the Syrian government must be held accountable.
“This applies both to the Assad government’s deployment of chemical weapons and for its attacks against civilians and the blockade of humanitarian support,” a German chancellery statement said.
Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, vowed there would be “no impunity” in the event of further chemical weapons use in Syria.
Washington has asked the UN Security Council to set up a new inquiry into chemical weapons attacks in Syria after reports of suspected chlorine use in Eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons and Russia has questioned UN findings that it carried out sarin and chlorine attacks.
It was unclear when the US proposal, or a separate Russian draft resolution, on the Syrian chemical inquiry would come to a vote.
On Friday, distrust ran high among civilians in Eastern Ghouta on the fourth day of a daily fivehour “humanitarian pause”.
The pause announced by Russia has tempered but not halted the bombing, which has ripped through houses and reduced residential areas to grey rubble.
Embattled Syrian civilians have not left the enclave, despite a Russian offer of safe passage out during the daily halt in fighting.
“People are still in their cellars because they don’t feel safe,” a 24-year-old who gave his name as Mohammed said in the devastated town of Hammuriyeh.
Damascus and Moscow accuse the armed opposition of preventing civilians from leaving.
In the main town of Douma, 25-year-old Malik Mohammed said the daily pause had not brought any peace of mind to civilians.
“During the pause, the bombing continues for five hours outside Douma and as soon as it ends, it starts up again inside.”
Early Friday, before the pause’s 07:00 GMT start, warplanes pounded areas including Douma and the town of Zamalka, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Rockets fell on Douma and Harasta during the pause, the Britainbased war monitor said, as government forces advanced on the southern outskirts of the enclave.
People in Eastern Ghouta are surviving on what little food they have, sometimes relying on meagre meals of rice and bread from local charities, a correspondent said.
The price of rice and pasta has soared, as they become increasingly rare in shops. —