UN chief wants ceasefire enforced immediately

GENEVA: The United Nations secretary- general demanded the immediate implementation of a 30-day ceasefire in Syria as the Damascus regime continued its deadly bombardment of the rebelheld Eastern Ghouta.

UN chief Antonio Guterres praised the adoption of a Security Council resolution on Saturday calling for the truce but underscored “Security Council resolutions are only meaningful if they are effectively implemented.

“That is why I expect the resolution to be immediately implemented and sustained,” he told the opening of the 37th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Eastern Ghouta cannot wait. It is high time to stop this hell on earth,” Guterres said.

It took days of diplomatic wrangling before Security Council on Saturday adopted a resolution calling for the ceasefire “without delay” to allow for aid deliveries and medical evacuations in Eastern Ghouta.

But fresh bombardment by the Syrian regime killed at least 10 civilians in the area yesterday, including nine members of a same family, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor group said.

Air strikes destroyed a building in Douma, the main town in the area east of Damascus, and buried alive an entire family, according to the Observatory.

More than 500 civilians have been killed in regime and Russian bombardment of Eastern Ghouta, which is controlled by militant fighters, since February 18, the Observatory further said. — AFP