Stop airstrikes: UN officials ask warring parties in Syria

Ahead of Syria peace talks, top UN humanitarianofficials today made a fervent appeal to the warring parties attending the dialogue to stop airstrikes and allow humanitarian access to besieged areas, saying "enough is enough".
"We do have the expectation that the international community with all its parts and pieces willcome to Geneva and actually talk people and not just politics because the ultimate price payer in this are the Syrian people," said Yacoub El Hillo, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria.
The comments came a day after special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced plans to hold peace talks involving multiple parties starting Friday.

"We hope those coming to Geneva in the coming days will do the following: stop attacks on schools, stop attacks on hospital, stop attacks on medical personnel, implement humanitarian pauses that will allow health workers and volunteers to do vaccinations," El Hillo said.
"And those coming to Geneva need to hear this very clearly and very loudly: enough is enough," he added.
The UN humanitarian chief of Syria said arriving at such an agreement should not take six months --the duration of the scheduled intra-Syrian talks--but should be done at the beginning of the political negotiations.

"I hope all strikes will stop when the talks start not just the Russian strikes...If the talks continue and the killings continue, what's the point?" said El Hillo.

"Let me appeal in particular to Russia, Iran, the US, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to do all they can in the coming days so we can get the humanitarian agreements we ask for," said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
He said that apart from airstrikes by both American-led coalition and Russia, besiegement of towns has become a common strategy of war which includes a blockade of humanitarian access to civilians by international organisations.
About 450,000 people are under ISIL-held territory while the Assad government as well as various opposition groups have besieged towns in the North. "That must stop," said El Hillo.

The UN estimates that nearly 4.5 million Syrians are in, what are known as, hard-to-reach areas.
Calling it the most devastating conflict of the 21st century or even longer, the UN officials said that half of the Syrians don't live in their homes any more and close to 70 per cent live in poverty.
"Syria is probably the most dangerous place on earth now to be a child," said Hanna Singer, UNICEF representative in Syria, adding scores of children being killed by mortar attacks, air strikes, by IEDs or through severe malnutrition.
More than 2 million children are out of school with less than 50 per cent school enrolment whereas in the pre-crisis times the school enrolment rate was more than 90 per cent.

The UNICEF said that children, some as young as eight years old -- are being made executioners and suicide bombers.
El Hillo warned that if the parties don't stop the "madness", "senseless killings" and the conflict that has engulfed this "icon of a country" then the "human train" of refugees to Europe won't stop.