Fighting in Syria's Ghouta halts aid delivery, medical evacuations

Syrian governmentwarplanes struck the eastern Ghouta region on Tuesday andDamascus accused rebels of shelling a safe route out, despite aRussian call for a five-hour truce that failed to halt one ofthe most devastating campaigns of the war.

Two residents in the region told Reuters that warplanes andhelicopters were still launching strikes despite the Russian truce. Airstrikes were also reported by a war monitoring group,although a Syrian military source denied them.

The United Nations said ongoing combat had made itimpossible to bring in aid or rescue the wounded.

"We have reports this morning there is continuous fightingin eastern Ghouta," UNhumanitarian spokesperson Jens Laerkesaid. "Clearly the situation on the ground is not such thatconvoys can go in or medical evacuations can go out."

Hundreds of people have died during 10 days of governmentbombardment of the eastern Ghouta, an area of towns and farms onthe outskirts of Damascus. The assault has been among the mostdevastating air campaigns of the war.

Russia declared Tuesday's unilateral five-hour truce to openwhat it describes as a humanitarian corridor to evacuate woundedand let civilians escape from the besieged rebel-held enclave.On Tuesday, its military said it would guarantee the safety ofany civilians who wished to leave.

Residents in several towns in the district described a briefpause in fighting, but said bombardment swiftly resumed. In thetown of Hammouriyeh a man who identified himself by his firstname Mahmoud told Reuters helicopters and warplanes were in thesky and conducting strikes.

Siraj Mahmoud, a spokespersonfor the Civil Defence rescueservice, which is funded by Western governments and operates inrebel areas, said artillery and airstrikes had hit the region.

Syrian state media and Russian officials accused the rebelsof shelling the evacuation corridor to stop civilians leavingeastern Ghouta, which rebel groups denied.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsmonitoring group said helicopters and warplanes had struck fourtowns and artillery shelling killed one person.

UN calls for ceasefire to be observed

A UNSecurity Council resolution passed Saturday calledfor a 30-day ceasefire across the entire country, but it did notspecify when it should come into effect. It also excludes somemilitant groups, which Syria's allies say are among the rebelfighters in eastern Ghouta.

Laerkedeclined to comment on the Russian proposal for a five-hour truce, but called instead onall sides to obey the full 30-day ceasefire.

"It is a question of life and death if ever there was aquestion of life and death we need a 30-day cessation of hostilities in Syria as the Security Council demands," Laerke,spokesperson of the UNOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA), told a Geneva briefing.

However, the UN resolution "was not an agreement by the warring parties," freelance journalist Rebecca Collard told CBC News from neighbouring Lebanon.

"What we have seen again and again in Syria is these resolutions passed by the United Nations in New York or agreements made in European cities simply fall apart on the ground in Syria," she said.

A rebel spokesperson said people in eastern Ghouta did not wantto leave the area despite the bombardment, because they fearedarrest, torture or conscription by the government.

Eastern Ghouta, where the UNsays about 400,000 peoplelive, is a major target for Assad, whose forces have clawed backnumerous areas with military backing from Russia and Iran.

Rebels based in eastern Ghouta have intensified shelling ofgovernment-held Damascus. A medical official in the capital saidon Monday 36 people had been killed in four days. Damascus andMoscow say the campaign in eastern Ghouta is needed to halt suchshelling.

The Syrian war, approaching its eighth year, has killedhundreds of thousands of people and driven half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million people from their homes.

Even before the latest bombardment of the besieged areabegan, there was growing international alarm over humanitarianconditions in the eastern Ghouta because of shortages of food,medicine and other essentials.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva saidMonday it welcomed any measure allowing "those who wish toleave to do so, of their free will" and medical evacuations.

But a senior official with the aid group said Tuesday the proposed pausewastoo short.

"It is impossible to bring a humanitarian convoy in fivehours," saidICRC Middle East director Robert Mardini."We have a long experience of bringing aid across front lines in Syria, and we know that it may take up to one dayto simply pass checkpoints, despite the previous agreement ofall parties. Then you need to offload the goods."