By Bayram Altug
GENEVA (AA) – “Attacks of bombardments, all kinds of illegal weapons being used “, a UN official said Friday referring to reports of intense airstrikes targeting Syria’s besieged Eastern Ghouta.
“We unfortunately have a steady stream of reports coming out of Eastern Ghouta: of attacks of bombardments, all kinds of illegal weapons being used. ” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), during a news conference in Geneva.
Laerke said: “we help those tens of thousands of people who are fleeing and coming out, and as I mentioned the other day, they come out in a really terrible state of mind, and physical condition, it’s horrible. ”
“They are traumatized, they are tired, they are hungry, they are thirsty, they are sick, they have been deprived of medical care for month and even years. ” he said.
In statements made on its social media accounts, the civil defense group White Helmets said fighter jets had been used to hit the shelter inhabited by civilians with inflammable “napalm ” bombs.
Since Feb. 19, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta.
On Feb. 24, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2401, which called for a cease-fire in Syria — especially in Eastern Ghouta — to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Despite the cease-fire resolution, however, the regime and its allies early this month launched a major ground offensive — backed by Russian air power — aimed at capturing opposition-held parts of the district.
Home to some 400,000 civilian residents, Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years that has prevented the delivery of badly-needed humanitarian supplies.
In 1980, the UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons banned the usage of flammable Napalm bombs against civilians.
