Syrian ceasefire tested in its first 24 hours
Regime air strikes target Eastern Ghouta enclave less than 24 hours after UN Security Council resolution
The UN’S ceasefire in Syria’s rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta was cast into doubt yesterday, less than 24 hours after the Security Council voted to uphold it, as residents woke to regime air strikes. Mohammad Baqeri, an Iranian general, said both Tehran and Damascus would respect the 30-day ceasefire, but he also said the truce did not cover parts of the Damascus suburbs “held by terrorists”. “Clean-up [operations] will continue there,” he said.
THE UN’S ceasefire in Syria’s rebelheld enclave of Eastern Ghouta was cast into doubt less than 24 hours after the Security Council voted to uphold it, as residents woke to regime air strikes and Iran vowed to carry on fighting in areas it deems held by terrorists.
Mohammad Baqeri, an Iranian general, said both Tehran and Damascus would respect the 30-day ceasefire, but he also said the truce did not cover parts of the Damascus suburbs “held by terrorists”. “Clean-up [operations] will continue there,” he said.
Bashar al-assad, the Syrian president, and his allies have long used the term “terrorist” as a catch-all for those on the receiving end of air strikes, barrel bombs and shelling.
While yesterday was calmer than the days preceding it, the Syrian Civil Defence, known as the White Helmets, said six people died in shelling yesterday, while another watchdog put the death toll at eight.
Following days holed up in dark basements, some locals said they crept outside for the first time, only to be sent scrambling for cover at the sound of warplanes, rockets and shelling.
On Saturday, after intense diplomatic wrangling, the Security Council adopted a resolution calling for the ceasefire in Syria “without delay”, to allow for aid deliveries and medical evacuations. In Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus just nine miles east of Mr Assad’s palace, more than 500 people were killed in six days of bombardment before Saturday’s vote.
The area is the last bastion for antigovernment militants in central Syria, and has been the site of asymmetric battles as Syrian government forces, aided by Iranian militias and Russian air power, have pounded the densely populated area.
The week of pitched battle follows nearly five years of full or partial siege. Aid has been allowed in just once in 2018, and the supply of food sent in was enough to feed just a fraction of the 400,000 people thought to be living there. Aid agencies and rights watchdogs have accused Damascus and its allies of deliberately targeting hospitals and the area’s healthcare infrastructure.
Medics still inside the enclave say they have been overwhelmed by massive numbers of casualties, with no clinics, supplies or medicines to treat them. Photos and videos of dead and wounded children and malnourished toddlers have painted a picture of horror in an area on Mr Assad’s doorstep.
According to humanitarian groups, child malnutrition levels in Eastern Ghouta are the worst in the whole of Syria. Yesterday, Pope Francis said Syria had been “martyred” and called for aid access and an immediate end to the violence.
But it is unclear whether this will come to pass, even with the unanimous adoption of the resolution at the Security Council on Saturday.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, both long-time advocates of a ceasefire, yesterday spoke to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
The Kremlin reported that the call served to highlight the importance of common efforts to implement a ceasefire.
But a German government spokesman said the call was an opportunity to urge Mr Putin to put “maximum” pressure on the Syrian government to stop fighting in the enclave. Russia’s cooperation in enforcing the ceasefire will be crucial, and has already been called into question. The Russian negotiating team at the UN drew international ire after it delayed the vote by a day while it sought to water down the wording and resist a specific date being set for the ceasefire to start.
“If the negotiations in New York are to mean anything at all to children in Eastern Ghouta, the bombing must end now and vital food and medical supplies must urgently be allowed in,” said Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s Syria response director.