UN: 'Senseless human suffering' must end in East Ghouta
The United Nations says it is alarmed by "the extreme escalation in hostilities" in Syria's Eastern Ghouta and called for "immediate" end to the bombardment of the rebel-held area that has left more than 100 people dead since Sunday.
"The recent escalation of violence compounds an already precarious humanitarian situation," Panos Moumtzis, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement on Tuesday.
"It's imperative to end this senseless human suffering now. Such targeting of innocent civilians and infrastructure must stop now."
At least 20 children are among those killed in the incessant air raids and artillery fired by Syrian government forces on the Damascus suburb home to some 400,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Over 300 people have suffered wounds, the London-based monitoring group said on Tuesday.
"Warplanes have not stopped soaring over the city. When the shelling temporarily stops, they start firing missiles at us," Shams, a mother of two children, told Al Jazeera from Eastern Ghouta.
"We reached a point where we don’t even leave the house during these raids so that if we're targeted, we die together."
The attack that began on Sunday reportedly marks an upcoming ground assault, which will soon be launched by the government, the SOHR said.
Khalid Abulabed, a field doctor in the besieged Damascus suburb, described the current situation as "crazy and catastrophic".
"It's indescribable. It reminded me of what we used to see in Aleppo – shelling day and night," Abulabed told Al Jazeera.
"Nothing is excluded from the shelling, not schools, not residential areas, not even markets, which has caused a significant increase in the number of people martyred and wounded," he said.
Eastern Ghouta is last remaining rebel-held area east of Damascus and has been under siege by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces since 2013.
The UN and other rights organizations have continuously called for a permanent ceasefire and for the government to lift the "crippling" blockade.
As a result of the tight siege, aid convoys have not been able to deliver much of the desperately needed food and medical supplies, and overall access to the enclave remains "woefully inadequate".
On February 14, a convoy's deliveries reached only 2.6 percent of the estimated 272,500 people in need of humanitarian aid, according to Ali al-Za'tari, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Syria.
"The lack of access has led to severe food shortages and a sharp rise in food prices," he said.
"Malnutrition rates have now reached unprecedented levels, with 11.9 percent of children under five years old acutely malnourished – the highest rate recorded in Syria since the beginning of the crisis."
According to Shams, the only commodities scarcely available are rice and bread.
"Nothing else is available because of the siege. You can’t even find any shopkeepers to sell you anything in the midst of these attacks – we’re starving," she said.
"If we don’t die from the shelling, we will of starvation."
The siege has also forced doctors such as Abulabed to perform medical procedures on those wounded using "very basic" equipment.
"We don’t even have access to adequate medical equipment," says Abulabed.
Doctors are often forced to make "extremely difficult decisions", he said, such as "performing procedures with low success rates".
In an apparent bid to lessen fighting last year, Eastern Ghouta was classified as a "de-escalation" zone by the Syrian government and its allies - including Russia, Iran, and Turkey. But violence has continued despite the truce agreement.
Syria's other de-escalation zones include parts of the northeastern province of Idlib, areas in northern Homs province, and rebel-controlled territory in the south near the border with Jordan.
Despite the agreement, nearly 300 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta and Idlib since the beginning of this month.
Now in its seventh year, the Syrian Civil War has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has forced millions to flee the country.
Works Cited
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My Response
"The recent escalation of violence compounds an already precarious humanitarian situation," Panos Moumtzis, the UN's regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, said in a statement on Tuesday.
"It's imperative to end this senseless human suffering now. Such targeting of innocent civilians and infrastructure must stop now."
At least 20 children are among those killed in the incessant air raids and artillery fired by Syrian government forces on the Damascus suburb home to some 400,000 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Over 300 people have suffered wounds, the London-based monitoring group said on Tuesday.
"Warplanes have not stopped soaring over the city. When the shelling temporarily stops, they start firing missiles at us," Shams, a mother of two children, told Al Jazeera from Eastern Ghouta.
"We reached a point where we don’t even leave the house during these raids so that if we're targeted, we die together."
The attack that began on Sunday reportedly marks an upcoming ground assault, which will soon be launched by the government, the SOHR said.
Khalid Abulabed, a field doctor in the besieged Damascus suburb, described the current situation as "crazy and catastrophic".
"It's indescribable. It reminded me of what we used to see in Aleppo – shelling day and night," Abulabed told Al Jazeera.
"Nothing is excluded from the shelling, not schools, not residential areas, not even markets, which has caused a significant increase in the number of people martyred and wounded," he said.
Eastern Ghouta is last remaining rebel-held area east of Damascus and has been under siege by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces since 2013.
The UN and other rights organizations have continuously called for a permanent ceasefire and for the government to lift the "crippling" blockade.
As a result of the tight siege, aid convoys have not been able to deliver much of the desperately needed food and medical supplies, and overall access to the enclave remains "woefully inadequate".
On February 14, a convoy's deliveries reached only 2.6 percent of the estimated 272,500 people in need of humanitarian aid, according to Ali al-Za'tari, the UN's humanitarian coordinator in Syria.
"The lack of access has led to severe food shortages and a sharp rise in food prices," he said.
"Malnutrition rates have now reached unprecedented levels, with 11.9 percent of children under five years old acutely malnourished – the highest rate recorded in Syria since the beginning of the crisis."
According to Shams, the only commodities scarcely available are rice and bread.
"Nothing else is available because of the siege. You can’t even find any shopkeepers to sell you anything in the midst of these attacks – we’re starving," she said.
"If we don’t die from the shelling, we will of starvation."
The siege has also forced doctors such as Abulabed to perform medical procedures on those wounded using "very basic" equipment.
"We don’t even have access to adequate medical equipment," says Abulabed.
Doctors are often forced to make "extremely difficult decisions", he said, such as "performing procedures with low success rates".
In an apparent bid to lessen fighting last year, Eastern Ghouta was classified as a "de-escalation" zone by the Syrian government and its allies - including Russia, Iran, and Turkey. But violence has continued despite the truce agreement.
Syria's other de-escalation zones include parts of the northeastern province of Idlib, areas in northern Homs province, and rebel-controlled territory in the south near the border with Jordan.
Despite the agreement, nearly 300 people have been killed in Eastern Ghouta and Idlib since the beginning of this month.
Now in its seventh year, the Syrian Civil War has killed hundreds of thousands of people and has forced millions to flee the country.
Works Cited
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Shimale, Zouhir Al. “UN: 'Senseless Human Suffering' Must End in East Ghouta.” Syria News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 20 Feb. 2018, <www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/senseless-human-suffering-east-ghouta-180220064101130.html>.
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It is clear from the wording of the article title as well as the article itself that the author of the article is biased against the rebels holding the area and towards the UN. The author chooses key quotes that makes the rebels look like really bad people while painting the UN's denounciation of the rebels in a positive light.
I think that the purpose of this article is to inform the public about what is happening to the people in East Ghouta and to help raise awareness against the rebels.
Personally I think that the author of this article could have done a little bit of a better job at explaining what all is happening in East Ghouta because as someone who does not keep super close track of the news I was not very aware of the situation there and this lack of information made portions of the article a little confusing. I do, however, agree with the author that the way this situation is currently being handled is quite poor. It is not appropriate for the lives of innocent civilians to be carelessly squandered in such a way and the reckless bombing and strafing of civilian areas cannot continue.
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