As we sip on cups of coffee and have our ready-made meals, Syria tackles yet another day of missiles causing mass destruction, on the outskirts of Damascus. Eastern Ghouta has been under military occupation by the Syrian Government since 2013. Matters escalated on February 19, due to the relentless bombings, killing a mass of the population within days. Food and medicine shortage leaves Eastern Ghouta suffering from severe cases of malnutrition.
The 104-kilometer district, 10 kilometers east of Damascus, is home to approximately 400,000 civilians.
In March, Syria will reach its 8th year in a civil war with more than 465,000 Syrians killed and over 12 million displaced from their homes.
UN Resolution
On Saturday, February 25, the UN security council voted in favor of a resolution to call for a 30-day ceasefire "without delay." This unanimous resolution was drafted by Kuwait and Sweden to enable aid deliveries and medical evacuations.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported that more than 500 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta, which tragically includes 123 children.
Russia caused a delay due to disagreements with other security councils, which led to a three-day delay in finalizing the resolution. Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the UN, called out this negligent approach by stating, "In the 3 days it took us to adopt this resolution, how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing?"
Al-Jazeera reports that Russian Ambassador Vassily Nabenzia justified the delay, saying, "why we negotiated so long on that resolution, that we wanted to make sure, that it is not used as any pretext for any military action because we heard some troublesome and worrying comments on that in recent days."
Jakob Kern, County Manager of World Food Programme reported live on CNN that a Ceasefire is essential, as Syria is in need of basic necessities.
He stated that the last time they had access to intervene and provide Syria with indispensable items was three months ago. Jakob added, "After eight years of war, anybody already is depleted of any assets. If you add bombardment to that, you add fighting inside Eastern Ghouta to that and add besiegement to that, you can imagine how dire the situation is for those 400,000 people."
Eastern Ghouta's response
Although the ceasefire commenced on February 25, citizens of Eastern Ghouta report the ceasefire as "dishonest." Local Syrian activist Alaa Al Ahmad told Aljazeera News yesterday that 30 minutes after the ceasefire was enforced, attacks started.
At least two civilians were killed just two hours into the truce.
According to Al Ahmad, this is all propaganda, and he emphasizes this by adding: "how could people trust Russia -the same people bombing us-with assisting in the safe evacuation of the injured...this is a huge contradiction."
Regarding the near future, it is beyond comprehensible that the civilians of Eastern Ghouta are dying as we speak.Their lives have been shattered through malnourishment and continuous onslaught.
Sadly, this is the nightmare that will not cease until they are protected by their own people, their own government.
The first day of a "humanitarian pause" in eastern Ghouta: Civilians did not evacuate, the wounded were not ferried out, humanitarian aid did not flow in, and fighting persisted https://t.co/RaOZLBxRB2
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 28, 2018
