UN Security Council emergency meeting as 20 thousand civilians flee Aleppo east

The request comes from Paris and London ambassadors. 15 diplomats will present a document on the situation prepared by the United Nations envoy. Moscow calls the session "propaganda campaign." The exodus of civilians from the eastern sector.

 

Aleppo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At the request of France, the UN Security Council has been convoked for an emergency meeting in New York to discuss the situation in Aleppo East. The area, which is controlled by rebel groups and jihadist militias, is under attack from the Syrian government which intends to unify the whole town. So far at least 20 thousand people are fleeing the fierce fighting, seeking refuge in the western sector.

The 15 ambassadors, representing countries members of the Security Council, will open the session with a written account of the situation on the ground at this time by the UN envoy in charge of humanitarian operations. A video-conference has also been planned with the United Nations Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura.

The International Red Cross (ICRC) says that in the last 72 hours "about 20 thousand people have fled from Aleppo east." The UN has described the ongoing violence in the city - according to military experts ready to return under the complete control of Damascus - a "descent into hell."

Hence the request of the French ambassador to the UN François Delattre for an emergency meeting, because "we cannot remain silent" in front of "one of the worst massacres of civilians" since World War II. His British counterpart Matthew Rycroft urged "the Syrian regime and Russia to stop bombing and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid."

The Russian ambassador [Moscow and Iran are allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the war] to the UN Vitaly Churkin, has responded calling the meeting a "propaganda campaign" by London and Paris.

The UN is developing "a plan" to bring relief to Aleppo east and evacuate the wounded. Diplomatic sources also add that the so-called "opposition" has now accepted the plan.

Before the war, Aleppo was the second most important city of Syria, as well as the economic and commercial capital of the country. Since 2012 it is divided into two sectors: the western, home to 1.2 million people, under the control of the government; the east, about 250 thousand people, in the hands of rebel and jihadist groups.

Local sources say that, since the weekend, the Assad soldiers and allied Shiite militias have regained more than a third of the east. The advance, however, has given rise to a very serious crisis, as confirmed by the head of UN humanitarian activities Stephen O'Brien that "thousands of people" are ready to leave the war zone.

Khaled Khatib, one of the volunteers of the White Berets - humanitarian NGOs which critics say have ties to jihadist groups - active in Aleppo east speaks of "very, very bad situation." "Thousands of residents of the eastern sector - he adds - are moving towards the western sector of the city", while "Aleppo is about to die."