GENEVA/BEIRUT: The United States and Russia must broker an evacuation from east Aleppo, UN Syria humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday.
Five months of negotiations over aid plans have produced “nothing,” Egeland said, and it was up to the United States and Russia to try to coordinate a deal.
“The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the crossfire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria,” he told reporters after a weekly Syria humanitarian meeting led by the United States and Russia.
Opposition groups in eastern Aleppo are simply asking for a pause in the fighting to allow people to leave, with no strings attached, Egeland said.
Russia wants eastern Aleppo’s citizens to leave via four humanitarian corridors, although it will not let food go in to supply the hungry population.
“Russia said they will definitely be discussing with us how to organize the evacuations, but they are not any more promising any pause (in fighting),” Egeland said.
A UNICEF volunteer was shot dead in a “child-friendly space” and a mortar hit another UN location, with no casualties, but both sites temporarily suspended work, the UN said.
Nearly 150 sick and disabled civilians were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppo’s Old City, the first major medical evacuation, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
The UN described east Aleppo’s health situation as “catastrophic.”
The UN estimates about 33,000 people have been displaced in the past 10 days, including about 20,000 going into government-held areas. But Syria’s government says 30,000 have been registered in government-held zones alone.
Russia wants opposition fighters and their families to be evacuated to the opposition-held town of Idlib, but the fighters want evacuees to go to northern Aleppo province.
Egeland said the local council in Idlib had informed the United Nations the town could not receive any more people because it was already too full of displaced people.
Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad’s imminent victory in Aleppo will increase Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon, the leading Lebanese Druze politician said on Thursday, as Assad said Lebanon could not remain unscathed by regional conflicts.
“Assad will win in Aleppo, benefiting from the fact that most of the international community has given up on the Syrian people. Then he will destroy Idlib,” said Walid Jumblatt, the main political leader of the minority Druze community in Lebanon and head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).
“This means that (Assad’s) influence in Lebanon will increase, and the Iranian-Syrian grip on (Lebanon) will strengthen,” he told As-Safir, a Lebanese daily.
In another development, Daesh killed at least 26 members of Syrian government forces on Thursday in an assault on regime positions in the central province of Homs, a monitor said.
Elsewhere in the country, the Observatory said at least 22 civilians had been killed in airstrikes on several parts of northern Syria under Daesh control.
The White Helmets rescue group urged international organizations to protect its members in east Aleppo in the face of an advance by government forces.
“If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime’s detention centers,” the rescuers said in a statement released by the Syria Campaign advocacy group that handles communications for them.
“We have good reason to fear for our lives,” the White Helmets said.
The group said its members in the city feared they would “be treated as terrorists” and could face detention or execution by advancing regime troops.
“We hold the ICRC, the United Nations and the Security Council responsible for our lives and we call on you to secure safe passage,” it added.
Nearly 150 civilians, many disabled or sick, were evacuated from a health facility in Aleppo’s Old City after the army retook the area, the Red Cross said Thursday.
The bodies of 11 people who died at the facility after being caught in crossfire or failing to receive medication were also retrieved, the humanitarian organization said.
“These patients and civilians had been trapped in the area for days because of heavy clashes nearby and as the front line kept drawing closer,” said ICRC Syria delegation head Marianne Gasser.
“Many of them cannot move and need special attention and care. It must have been terrifying for them,” she added.
The two organizations had been trying to evacuate the facility since Tuesday, but were forced to postpone initial efforts because of heavy fighting, the statement said.
“Tragically, for some, the operation came too late: 11 people died before the SARC and ICRC teams were able to reach the center,” it added.
“They were either caught in the crossfire or died because they did not have access to the right medications.”
Five months of negotiations over aid plans have produced “nothing,” Egeland said, and it was up to the United States and Russia to try to coordinate a deal.
“The member states that are supposed to help us get access to civilians in the crossfire are poles apart in how they regard what is happening in Syria,” he told reporters after a weekly Syria humanitarian meeting led by the United States and Russia.
Opposition groups in eastern Aleppo are simply asking for a pause in the fighting to allow people to leave, with no strings attached, Egeland said.
Russia wants eastern Aleppo’s citizens to leave via four humanitarian corridors, although it will not let food go in to supply the hungry population.
“Russia said they will definitely be discussing with us how to organize the evacuations, but they are not any more promising any pause (in fighting),” Egeland said.
A UNICEF volunteer was shot dead in a “child-friendly space” and a mortar hit another UN location, with no casualties, but both sites temporarily suspended work, the UN said.
Nearly 150 sick and disabled civilians were evacuated overnight from a hospital in Aleppo’s Old City, the first major medical evacuation, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
The UN described east Aleppo’s health situation as “catastrophic.”
The UN estimates about 33,000 people have been displaced in the past 10 days, including about 20,000 going into government-held areas. But Syria’s government says 30,000 have been registered in government-held zones alone.
Russia wants opposition fighters and their families to be evacuated to the opposition-held town of Idlib, but the fighters want evacuees to go to northern Aleppo province.
Egeland said the local council in Idlib had informed the United Nations the town could not receive any more people because it was already too full of displaced people.
Syrian tyrant Bashar Assad’s imminent victory in Aleppo will increase Syrian and Iranian influence in Lebanon, the leading Lebanese Druze politician said on Thursday, as Assad said Lebanon could not remain unscathed by regional conflicts.
“Assad will win in Aleppo, benefiting from the fact that most of the international community has given up on the Syrian people. Then he will destroy Idlib,” said Walid Jumblatt, the main political leader of the minority Druze community in Lebanon and head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP).
“This means that (Assad’s) influence in Lebanon will increase, and the Iranian-Syrian grip on (Lebanon) will strengthen,” he told As-Safir, a Lebanese daily.
In another development, Daesh killed at least 26 members of Syrian government forces on Thursday in an assault on regime positions in the central province of Homs, a monitor said.
Elsewhere in the country, the Observatory said at least 22 civilians had been killed in airstrikes on several parts of northern Syria under Daesh control.
The White Helmets rescue group urged international organizations to protect its members in east Aleppo in the face of an advance by government forces.
“If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime’s detention centers,” the rescuers said in a statement released by the Syria Campaign advocacy group that handles communications for them.
“We have good reason to fear for our lives,” the White Helmets said.
The group said its members in the city feared they would “be treated as terrorists” and could face detention or execution by advancing regime troops.
“We hold the ICRC, the United Nations and the Security Council responsible for our lives and we call on you to secure safe passage,” it added.
Nearly 150 civilians, many disabled or sick, were evacuated from a health facility in Aleppo’s Old City after the army retook the area, the Red Cross said Thursday.
The bodies of 11 people who died at the facility after being caught in crossfire or failing to receive medication were also retrieved, the humanitarian organization said.
“These patients and civilians had been trapped in the area for days because of heavy clashes nearby and as the front line kept drawing closer,” said ICRC Syria delegation head Marianne Gasser.
“Many of them cannot move and need special attention and care. It must have been terrifying for them,” she added.
The two organizations had been trying to evacuate the facility since Tuesday, but were forced to postpone initial efforts because of heavy fighting, the statement said.
“Tragically, for some, the operation came too late: 11 people died before the SARC and ICRC teams were able to reach the center,” it added.
“They were either caught in the crossfire or died because they did not have access to the right medications.”
