Syria: Macron, Merkel urge Putin to approve UN truce

By Hajer M'tiri

PARIS (AA) - The French and German leaders on Friday urged Russia to support a cease-fire proposal for Eastern Ghouta, Syria in the UN Security Council.

In a joint letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, currently in Brussels for an EU summit, asked Russia to support the draft resolution calling for a 30-day cease-fire in the besieged Damascus suburb, to allow the entrance of humanitarian aid and evacuation of the injured, said a French presidential statement.

At least 250 civilians killed in Eastern Ghouta over the last three days.

On Thursday, Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said Russia would not support the UN cease-fire proposal without some changes, calling it "unrealistic”.

Home to some 400,000 people, Eastern Ghouta has remained under a crippling regime siege for the last five years, bringing it to the verge of humanitarian catastrophe.

In the past eight months, Assad regime forces have intensified their siege, making it nearly impossible for food or medicine to get into the district and leaving thousands of patients in need of treatment.

Syria has been locked in a devastating conflict since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.

According to UN officials, to date hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the conflict.