UNSC debates resolution calling for free aid access to besieged Syrian cities

Discussions of a draft resolution on the access of humanitarian aid to Syrian cities besieged for several months are underway by the United Nations Security Council.

French UN Representative Gerard Araud said that the humanitarian crisis in Syria is the greatest since the Rwanda genocides. He noted that three million Syrians have no regular access to humanitarian aid.

Araud said the draft resolution, proposed by Australia, Luxembourg and Jordan, calls for the lifting of the siege, stopping air attacks by the Syrian regime, evacuating weapons from hospitals and schools, as well as allowing humanitarian aid access to these cities.

Russia denounced the resolution on Wednesday. Reuters reported Russian saying the resolution is a bid to lay groundwork for military strikes against the Syrian regime. The news agency reported Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov describing the draft as being “detached from reality”.

Meanwhile, 51 world renowned individuals; diplomats, artists, politicians and clerks signed a petition sent to the Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him to support the resolution.

The New York Times said former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the former US diplomat Morton Abramowitz are among the signatories.