By Fatih Erel
GENEVA (AA) – The UN warned Wednesday that recent fighting in Syria have created possibility of new besieged areas, including eastern Aleppo.
Speaking after an International Syria Support Group (ISSG) meeting in Geneva, the head of the UN’s humanitarian efforts in Syria, Jan Egeland, told reporters: “The horrific fighting and bombardment in recent days especially in and around Aleppo is creating new areas with endless suffering and no access for humanitarians.
“We seem to be having new possible besieged areas on our watch; we are having hundreds of relief workers unable to move in Aleppo,” Egeland added.
“We hope things will change in the short term, if not, eastern Aleppo may even become a besieged area,” said Egeland and adding that: “What we need is two things: an end to the fighting and we need permits to go to suffering people.”
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for Syria’s floundering cessation of hostilities to be restored, particularly in Aleppo where violence has escalated in recent days.
Egeland said the UN needs to reach 905,000 people who urgently need humanitarian aid in Syria.
By urging Russia and the U.S. to end the fighting in Syria, Egeland said: “Russia and the US could not be more important, but we do not need declarations, we need to end the bombardment, end the fighting.”
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests.
Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed, according to UN figures.
