UN spokesman: Syria's Ghouta truce has broken down, fighting rages on

UN spokesman: Syria's Ghouta truce has broken down, fighting rages on
By Euronews
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The truce was supposed to last a brief five hours, but even that failed. The UN says there's no way to get supplies in or civilians out of embattled Ghouta.

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Little respite for the besieged population of Eastern Ghouta in Syria.

They'd been promised five hours of respite per day to enable supplies in and civilians out.

But at one crossing between Ghouta and Damascus preparations were underway to evacuate residents when an explosion was heard.

Humanitarian aid impossible

UN humanitarian spokesman Jens Lærke commented on the ongoing fighting:

"Clearly the situation on the ground is not such that convoys can go in or medical evacuations can go out. It's a questions of life and death - if there ever was a question of life and death, this is is: we need 30-day cessation of hostilities throughout all Syria, as the resolution of the Security Coucil demands"

UN Security Council Resolution

Neither Syrian nor Russian forces paid much attention to the UN security council resolution, however, as Ghouta was subjected to fresh bombardment the very next day.

Rescue workers were straight back to combing rubble for dead bodies.

It's not clear who's responsible for breaking the truce. Syrian airplanes struck the region but Damascus also accuses rebel forces of shelling a safe route out.

Ghouta was under siege for nearly five years before it came under this latest sustained attack, and many residents are running out of food in their underground hideouts.

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