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Syria: UN Security Council unanimously backs ceasefire after '500 killed' in a week Syria: UN Security Council unanimously backs ceasefire after '500 killed' in a week
(35 minutes later)
The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a 30-day ceasefire in Syria so humanitarian aid can be delivered to war-ravaged areas. The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations in war-ravaged areas.
More than 520 people have been killed and 2,500 have been wounded since Sunday in the bombing of a rebel-held suburb outside the capital of Damascus, according to Doctors without Borders. The vote came as bombs continued to be dropped on Eastern Ghouta, the rebel-held suburb outside the capital of Damascus. More than 520 people have been killed and 2,500 have been wounded in the fighting in the last week, according to Doctors without Borders.
The Security Council resolution called for the fighting to stop "without delay," so that emergency aid supplies could be delivered and the injured could be evacuated. The vote had already been delayed by several days, as delegates said Russia – an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime – refused to a agree to a resolution.
Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia had called the proposal “unrealistic” and accused other council members of being misled by a “massive psychosis”. The country – which provides military support to Mr Assad's forces – agreed to the resolution on Saturday, after a requirement that the ceasefire be implemented in 72 hours was dropped.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley criticised Russia for "stalling" the vote on Friday. In a speech after Saturday's vote, she said the council as "very late" in taking action.
"In the three days it took us to adopt this resolution, how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing?" she asked.
The bombings in Eastern Ghouta this week have overwhelmed hospitals and left residents with little food or medical supplies. More than 22 medical facilities have been damaged in some of the worst violence ever seen in the country's seven-year-civil war, according to Syrian activists.
The country's civil defence rescue service, known as the White Helmets, said it was difficult to get an accurate count of the number dead and injured because of the relentless bombardment.
“Maybe there are many more,” Siraj Mahmoud, a spokesman for the group told Reuters. “We weren’t able to count the martyrs yesterday or the day before because the warplanes are touring the skies.”
Mr Assad's regime says they are targeting al-Qaeda-linked groups in the area.
Rebels have responded by firing mortar shells at Damascus, killing at least one person and injuring seven, according to Syrian state media.
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