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SYRIA - UN UN and Damascus announce "humanitarian" ceasefire in Aleppo

Dettagli

Creato: 18 Febbraio 2015

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Syria has agreed to suspend its aerial bombardment and locate a neighborhood to begin humanitarian aid to the population. The Security Council is skeptical and divided. So far, the war in Syria has killed at least 220 thousand people.


New York (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Syrian regime has agreed to the idea of suspending aerial bombardment of Aleppo for six weeks, so as to respond to the humanitarian emergency in the city. This was stated by the UN envoy Staffan de Mistura presenting his report to the Security Council of the United Nations, after meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad a few days ago.

According to de Mistura, even the rebel troops, who control some areas of the city and do not have air artillery, might agree. The UN envoy is trying to locate a neighborhood of Aleppo where he could launch a real ceasefire and respond to the needs of the population. "The purpose - he said - is to save the greatest number of civilian lives, as we try to find a political solution".

Since July 2012, the city has been divided between Syrian troops, who control the west, and the rebels who control the east. Once the beating heart of the economy of the country, today Aleppo is a mass of destruction, even though hundreds of thousands of residents who have not fled are trying to survive in the divided city.

The "Arab Spring" which erupted in Syria in 2011, with a call for greater democracy, slid into an embedded civil war sparking a regional and international conflict, with the Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE) and the US that supporting the rebels, and Iran and Russia supporting Assad. Because of the divisions in the UN Security Council, any dialogue to find solutions has been impossible so far.

According to UN estimates, to date at least 220 thousand people have been killed in the war; more than 3 million Syrians have fled to Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq; about 6 million are internally displaced.


©  asianews - 2015, Feb. 18