Call to halt Syrian bombing in Ghouta

Manama : Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have expressed serious concern over the Syrian regime’s escalating violence in Eastern Ghouta, calling for halt to aerial bombardment so that humanitarian aid and relief could be provided.

“The affected should be provided food and medicine, and the innocent civilians should be protected from any attacks,” Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday. 

“International efforts should be intensified to reach a peaceful, political settlement for the Syrian crisis based on the principles of the Declaration of Geneva and United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 2254 and pursuant to Syria’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity,” the Ministry added.

More than 300 people have been killed in the rural eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus since Sunday night, and several hundreds have been wounded, according to human rights monitors and aid agencies who say Russian and Syrian planes have struck hospitals and other civilian targets.

 ‘Halt aerial bombing’

Saudi Arabia and the UAE called on Syria to halt its aerial bombardment to provide  aid to wounded residents. “We stress the need for the Syrian regime’s violence to end, and to have humanitarian aid and relief to enter Syria,” Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Twitter. “The political path to the crisis solution must be taken seriously, in accordance with the agreed principles of the Geneva Declaration 1 and the UN Security Council Resolution 2254,” it added.

UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for an immediate truce to protect the lives of civilians. 

The UAE reiterated that the only solution to the crisis is the Geneva-based political solution and appealed to all parties to activate this political process.