Syria: France urges UN to impose humanitarian truce

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA)- France denounced on Tuesday a "serious violation of humanitarian law" in Eastern Ghouta after brutal Syrian regime attacks, in which 167 civilians were killed.

In a Foreign Ministry statement, Paris urged its partners at the UN to act to impose a humanitarian truce.

"These indiscriminate attacks deliberately target inhabited areas and civilian infrastructure, including medical. They constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law," read a statement by the French Foreign Ministry.

The ministry added the bombings come as "the humanitarian situation is already critical in Eastern Ghouta. 400,000 civilians are besieged by Bashar al-Assad's army, including 750 people waiting for emergency medical evacuation, which is being denied."

"These actions are the responsibility of the Syrian regime, but also of Russia and Iran who are its main supporters and who, under the Astana agreement, have guaranteed a cease-fire that is supposed to apply to Ghouta.

"France calls on all its partners in the United Nations Security Council to take responsibility for finally reaching a humanitarian truce," concluded the statement.

At least 167 civilians have been killed in the past two days in the intensified Syrian regime attacks on the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, sources from the Syrian Civil Defense said on Tuesday.

Sources from the Civil Defense, also known as the White Helmets, told Anadolu Agency that during the recent regime attacks on civilian areas in Eastern Ghouta, 88 people were killed on Monday and 79 on Tuesday.

The death toll is expected to increase with the attacks still continuing in several areas. Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- endorsed by Turkey, Russia, and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly prohibited.

Nevertheless, the Syrian regime continues to target residential parts of the city, killing at least 539 people -- and injuring more than 2,000 others -- since Dec. 29 of last year.

Home to some 400,000 civilian residents, Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.