Tag Archives: Humanitarian Aid

France to seek International Criminal Courts options for war crimes in Aleppo

Girls who survived what activists said was a ground-to-ground missile attack by forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, hold hands at Aleppo's Bab al-Hadeed

By John Irish

PARIS (Reuters) – France is working to find a way for the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor to launch an investigation into war crimes it says have been committed by Syrian and Russian forces in eastern Aleppo, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Monday.

Since the collapse of efforts to reach a ceasefire in September, Russian and Syrian warplanes have launched their biggest offensive on Aleppo’s besieged rebel-held sectors, in a battle that could become a turning point in the five-year-old civil war.

“These bombings – and I said it in Moscow – are war crimes,” Ayrault told France Inter radio after a French-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria was vetoed at the weekend by Russia. “It includes all those who are complicit for what’s happening in Aleppo, including Russian leaders.

“We shall contact the International Criminal Court prosecutor to see how she can launch these investigations.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also called for a war crimes investigation last week.

It is unclear how the ICC could proceed given that the court has no jurisdiction for crimes in Syria because it is not a member of the ICC.

It appears the only way for the case to make it to the ICC would be through the U.N. Security Council referral, which has been deadlocked over Syria. Moscow vetoed a French resolution in May 2014 to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC.

“It is very dangerous to play with such words because war crimes also weigh on the shoulders of American officials,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, according to RIA news agency.

ICC OPTIONS

A French diplomatic source acknowledged the difficulties, but said Paris had begun to comb through the ICC’s articles to see what could be done.

The source said the ICC would have jurisdiction if an alleged criminal had the citizenship of an ICC member, for example a dual Syrian-French national in the government involved in an attack. It would be the job of the relevant member state to bring a prosecution.

The source said it would also study whether the ICC could have jurisdiction if a victim of an attack had citizenship of an ICC member.

“It will be complicated, but we are looking for other solutions. Our jurists are trying to find other ways,” the source said, adding that Paris was also not ruling out a new Security Council resolution on accountability.

Ayrault said Paris would also seek separate sanctions on the Syrian government at the United Nations once a joint U.N. and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inquiry concludes on Oct. 21.

The inquiry has identified two Syrian Air Force helicopter squadrons and two other military units it holds responsible for chlorine gas attacks on civilians, Western diplomats have told Reuters.

The diplomatic source said a U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution on the use of chemical weapons would now be discussed, although it was vital to reach a deal with Russia.

“It would be problematic to have a veto on chemical weapons. It would be serious, but until now the Russians have been on board with regard chemical weapons,” the source said.

French officials have grappled for ways to try to put new pressure on Russia and their growing anger at events in Aleppo have led them to reconsider whether to host him on Oct. 19.

“We do not agree with what Russia is doing, bombarding Aleppo. France is committed as never before to saving the population of Aleppo,” Ayrault said.

“If the President decides (to see Putin), this will not be to trade pleasantries,” he added.

(Reporting by John Irish, Alexander Winning in Moscow and Anthony Deutsch in Amsterdam; Editing by Dominic Evans)

Russia vetoes U.N. demand for end to bombing of Syria’s Aleppo

Smoke rises from Bustan al-Basha neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria,

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Russia vetoed a French-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution on Saturday that would have demanded an end to air strikes and military flights over Syria’s city of Aleppo, while a rival Russian draft text failed to get a minimum nine votes in favor.

Moscow’s text was effectively the French draft with Russian amendments. It removed the demand for an end to air strikes on Aleppo and put the focus back on a failed Sept. 9 U.S./Russia ceasefire deal, which was annexed to the draft.

British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin: “Thanks to your actions today, Syrians will continue to lose their lives in Aleppo and beyond to Russian and Syrian bombing. Please stop now.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, backed by Russian war planes and Iranian support, have been battling to capture eastern Aleppo, the rebel-held half of Syria’s largest city, where more than 250,000 civilians are trapped.

“Russia has become one of the chief purveyors of terror in Aleppo, using tactics more commonly associated with thugs than governments,” U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations David Pressman told the council.

He said Russia was “intent on allowing the killing to continue and, indeed, participating in carrying it out” and that what was needed from Moscow was “less talk and more action from them to stop the slaughter.”

A U.N. resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes to be adopted. The veto powers are the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China. The Russian text only received four votes in favor, so a veto was not needed to block it.

The French draft received 11 votes in favor, while China and Angola abstained. Venezuela joined Russia in voting against it.

It was the fifth time Russia has used its veto on a U.N. resolution on Syria during the more than five-year conflict.

The previous four times China backed Moscow in protecting Syria’s government from council action, including vetoing a bid to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court. China voted in favor of Russia’s draft on Saturday.

‘STRANGE SPECTACLE’

China’s U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi said some of the content of the French draft “does not reflect the full respect for the sovereignty, independence, unification and territorial integrity of Syria,” while the content of the Russian draft did.

“We regret that the (Russian draft) resolution was not adopted,” he told the council.

Russia only gained the support of China, Venezuela and Egypt for its draft resolution. Angola and Uruguay abstained, while the remaining nine council members voted against.

Churkin, who is council president for October, described the dual votes on Saturday as one of the “strangest spectacles in the history of the Security Council.”

“Given that the crisis in Syria is at a critical stage, when it is particularly important that there be a coordination of the political efforts of the international community, this waste of time is inadmissible,” Churkin told the council.

Syrian government forces recaptured territory from insurgents in several western areas on Saturday.

Both the French and Russian U.N. draft resolutions called for a truce and humanitarian aid access throughout Syria.

“If we don’t so something this town (Aleppo) will soon just be in ruins and will remain in history as a town in which the inhabitants were abandoned to their executioners,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said. “If the international community does not wake up it will share the responsibility.”

The council negotiated for a week on the text drafted by France. Russia circulated its own draft on Friday and said it would be put to a vote after the French text on Saturday.

Angola’s U.N. Ambassador Ismael Gaspar Martins said his country abstained on both votes because it did not want to be drawn into the acrimony between the United States and Russia.

The United States on Monday suspended talks with Russia on implementing a ceasefire deal in Syria, accusing Moscow of not living up to its commitments to halt fighting and ensure aid reached besieged communities.

A crackdown by Assad on pro-democracy protesters in 2011 sparked a civil war and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq. Half of Syria’s 22 million people have been uprooted and more than 400,000 killed.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish and Bernard Orr)

Exclusive: Russia builds up forces in Syria, Reuters data analysis shows

The Russian Navy's missile corvette Mirazh sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey,

By Jack Stubbs and Maria Tsvetkova

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia has built up its forces in Syria since a ceasefire collapsed in late September, sending in troops, planes and advanced missile systems, a Reuters analysis of publicly available tracking data shows.

The data points to a doubling of supply runs by air and sea compared to the nearly two-week period preceding the truce. It appears to be Russia’s biggest military deployment to Syria since President Vladimir Putin said in March he would pull out some of his country’s forces.

The increased manpower probably includes specialists to put into operation a newly delivered S-300 surface-to-air missile system, military analysts said.

The S-300 system will improve Russia’s ability to control air space in Syria, where Moscow’s forces support the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and could be aimed at deterring tougher U.S. action, they said.

“The S-300 basically gives Russia the ability to declare a no-fly zone over Syria,” said Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London.

“It also makes any U.S. attempt to do so impossible. Russia can just say: ‘We’re going to continue to fly and anything that tries to threaten our aircraft will be seen as hostile and destroyed’.”

Russia’s Defence Ministry did not respond to written questions. A senior air force official, speaking on condition of anonymity, dismissed talk of an increase in supply shipments.

But data collated by Turkish bloggers for their online Bosphorus Naval News project, and reviewed by Reuters, shows reinforcements sent via Russia’s “Syrian Express” shipping route from the Black Sea increased throughout September and have peaked in the last week.

The data shows 10 Russian navy ships have gone through the Bosphorus en route to Syria since late September, compared with five in the 13-day period before the truce — from Aug. 27 to Sept. 7.

That number includes The Mirazh, a small missile ship which a Reuters correspondent saw heading through the Bosphorus toward the Mediterranean on Friday.

Two other Russian missile ships were deployed to the Mediterranean on Wednesday.

Some of the ships that have been sent to Syria were so heavily laden the load line was barely visible above the water, and have docked at Russia’s Tartus naval base in the Western Syrian province of Latakia. Reuters has not been able to establish what cargo they were carrying.

Troops and equipment are also returning to Syria by air, according to tracking data on website FlightRadar24.com.

Russian military cargo planes flew to Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Syria six times in the first six days of October — compared to 12 a month in September and August, a Reuters analysis of the data shows.

INCREASED ACRIMONY

Russia sent its air force to support the Syrian Army a year ago when Moscow feared Assad was on the point of succumbing to rebel offensives. U.S.-led forces also carry out air strikes in Syria, targeting Islamic State positions.

Aerial bombardments in the past two weeks, mainly against rebel-held areas in the Syrian city of Aleppo, have been among the heaviest of the civil war, which has killed more then 300,000 people in 5-1/2 years.

Since the collapse of the ceasefire in September, acrimony between the United States and Russia has grown and Washington has suspended talks with Moscow on implementing the truce.

U.S. officials told Reuters on Sept. 28 that Washington had started considering tougher responses to the assault on Aleppo, including the possibility of air strikes on an Assad air base.

“They (Russia) probably correctly surmise that eventually American policy will change,” Bronk said, commenting on the analysis of the tracking data.

“They are thinking: ‘We’re going to have to do something about this, so better to bring in more supplies now … before it potentially becomes too touchy’.”

The FlightRadar24.com data shows Ilyushin Il-76 and Antonov An-124 cargo planes operated by the Russian military have been flying to Syria multiple times each month. It offers no indication of what the aircraft are carrying.

But the Il-76 and An-124 transporters can carry up to 50 and 150 tonnes of equipment respectively and have previously been used to airlift heavy vehicles and helicopters to Syria.

State-operated passenger planes have also made between six and eight flights from Moscow to Latakia each month. Western officials say they have been used to fly in troops, support workers and engineers.

Twice in early October, a Russian military Ilyushin plane flew to Syria from Armenia. Officials in Yerevan said the planes carried humanitarian aid from Armenia, a Russian ally.

Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reported last week that a group of Su-24 and Su-34 warplanes had arrived at the Hmeymim base in Syria, returning Russia’s fixed-wing numbers in the country to near the level before the drawdown was announced in March.

(Additional reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan in Yerevan and Murad Sezer in Istanbul, Writing by Jack Stubbs, Editing by Christian Lowe and Timothy Heritage)

What are Haiti’s humanitarian needs after Hurricane Matthew?

People wade across a flooded street while Hurricane Matthew passes through Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

By Sebastien Malo

NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Hurricane Matthew, which slammed into Haiti this week, has created the worst humanitarian crisis in the impoverished nation since a devastating earthquake hit six years ago, according to the United Nations.

The storm ripped through Haiti on Tuesday, causing heavy flooding and knocking down houses.

Citing Haitian authorities, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at least 350,000 people needed immediate assistance.

The full impact remained unclear, however, with communications down in many of the worst-affected areas.

Here are what some of the world’s leading aid agencies expect will be humanitarian needs in Haiti in the storm’s wake.

Helene Robin, Handicap International’s head of emergency operations:

“Initial information reaching us is worrying. Many affected people have lost their homes, crops, and livestock. We will have to face a logistical challenge to reach these very remote areas and provide humanitarian assistance which these isolated populations need. We also fear that the floods caused by Hurricane Matthew entail substantial health risks such as the spread of cholera.” Carlos Veloso, World Food Programme’s country director:

“Because of the severity in the south, we expect that certain roads will be closed and we need to repair them immediately. The second big challenge will be the access to populations in the mountains in the south. Normally access here is not easy, and with a hurricane the strength of Matthew it will become more difficult.” Sylvie Savard, country representative in the joint office of the Lutheran World Federation and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe in Haiti:

“The most affected groups are those most vulnerable living in areas along the coast, in low lying areas or close to steep slopes. Many people, especially in rural areas, live in poorly constructed homes that could not stand up to the winds and rains. People have been evacuated to save their lives, but the storm and the floods will have swept away what little they have.” Jean Claude Fignole, Oxfam’s influence program director in Haiti:

“Our first response will concentrate on saving lives by providing safe water and hygiene kits to avoid the spread of cholera. Right now there are at least 10,000 people displaced from their homes and in need of safe shelter, water and food.” Ravi Tripptrap, Malteser International Americas’ executive director:

“The floods have been particularly damaging in the slum community of Cité Soleil. Sewage canals are overflowing and filling the streets with garbage and human waste; make-shift shanty homes have been washed away. This is where our help is needed.”

(Reporting by Sebastien Malo, Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)

France makes new push for Aleppo ceasefire

The sun sets over Aleppo as seen from rebel-held part of the city

By John Irish, Lidia Kelly and Angus McDowall

PARIS/MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) – France is to launch a new push for United Nations backing for a ceasefire in Syria that would allow aid into the city of Aleppo after some of the heaviest bombing of the war.

As diplomatic efforts resumed, the Syrian military said army commanders had decided to scale back air strikes and shelling in Aleppo to alleviate the humanitarian situation there.

It said civilians in rebel-held eastern Aleppo were being used as human shields and a reduced level of bombardment would allow people to leave for safer areas.

Intense Syrian and Russian bombing of rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo followed the collapse last month of a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington, which backs some rebel groups. The United States broke off talks with Russia on Monday, accusing it of breaking its commitments.

France said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault would travel to Russia and the United States on Thursday and Friday to try to persuade both sides to adopt a Security Council resolution to impose a new truce.

Ayrault has accused Syria, backed by Russia and Iran, of war crimes as part of an “all-out war” on its people. Damascus rejects the accusation, saying it is only fighting terrorists.

Speaking to French television channel LCI, Ayrault said: “If you’re complicit in war crimes then one day you will be held accountable, including legally. I think with the Russians you have to speak the truth and not try to please them.”

The former prime minister said he would also ask Washington to be “more efficient and engaged” and not allow a laissez-faire attitude to take over just because presidential elections were approaching in November.

“ALL THAT’S LEFT”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed Syria by telephone on Wednesday, but no details emerged. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Lavrov would meet Ayrault in Moscow on Thursday.

The two-week-old Russian-backed Syrian government offensive aims to capture eastern Aleppo and crush the last urban stronghold of a revolt against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that began in 2011.

Half of the estimated 275,000 Syrians besieged in the rebel-held eastern part of the city want to leave, the United Nations said, with food supplies running short and people driven to burning plastic for fuel.

Mothers were reportedly tying ropes around their stomachs or drinking large amounts of water to reduce the feeling of hunger and prioritise food for their children, the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Geneva.

The Security Council began negotiations on Monday on a French and Spanish draft resolution that urges Russia and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Aleppo and to “put an end to all military flights over the city”.

“This trip is in the framework of efforts by France to get a resolution adopted at the U.N. Security Council opening the path for a ceasefire in Aleppo and aid access for populations that need it so much,” the French foreign ministry said.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that Moscow was engaged in discussions on the draft text even if he was not especially enthusiastic about its language.

The draft text, seen by Reuters, urges Russia and the United States “to ensure the immediate implementation of the cessation of hostilities, starting with Aleppo, and, to that effect, to put an end to all military flights over the city.”

The draft also asks U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to propose options for U.N.-supervised monitoring of a truce and threatens to “take further measures” in the event of non-compliance by “any party to the Syrian domestic conflict”.

A senior Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “In the experts’ negotiations they (Russia) have opposed every single dot and comma of the resolution.”

French officials have said that if Moscow were to oppose the resolution they would be ready to put it forward anyway to force Moscow into a veto, underscoring its complicity with the Syrian government.

“It’s all that’s left,” said a French diplomatic source. “We’re not fools. The Russians aren’t going to begin respecting human rights from one day to the next, but it’s all we have to put pressure on them.”

People walk past damaged buildings in the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria,

People walk past damaged buildings in the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria, October 5, 2016. To match Insight MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-ALEPPO REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

GULF STATES

Ayrault said in the television interview that the situation was unacceptable. “It is deeply shocking and shameful,” he said. “France will not close its eyes and do nothing. It’s cynicism that fools nobody.”

The collapse of the latest Syria ceasefire has heightened the possibility that Gulf states including Saudi Arabia and Qatar – backers of Syrian rebels – might arm the opposition with shoulder-fired missiles to defend themselves against Syrian and Russian warplanes, U.S. officials have said.

Qatar’s foreign minister said outside powers need to act fast to protect Syrians because foreign military backing for the government is “changing the equation” of the war.

A United Nations expert said that analysis of satellite imagery of a deadly and disputed attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month showed that it was an air strike.

Some 20 people were killed in the attack on the U.N. and Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy at Urem Al-Kubra near Aleppo.

The United States blamed two Russian warplanes which it said were in the skies above the area at the time of the incident. Moscow denies this and says the convoy caught fire.

“With our analysis we determined it was an air strike and I think multiple other sources have said that as well,” Lars Bromley, research adviser at UNOSAT, told a news briefing.

In northern Syria, rebels were expecting stiff resistance from Islamic State in their attempt to capture a village that is of great symbolic significance to the jihadists, a rebel commander said.

With Turkish backing, rebels fighting under the Free Syrian Army banner have advanced to within a few kilometres (miles) of Dabiq, the site of an apocalyptic prophecy central to the militant group’s ideology.

(Writing by Giles Elgood and Philippa Fletcher, editing by Peter Millership)

U.S. urges Russia to halt Syria sieges and allow humanitarian aid

People inspect a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held town of Atareb

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations Security Council must not allow civilians on both sides of the Syrian city of Aleppo to be cut off from humanitarian aid, the United States said on Monday as Russia accused Washington of politicizing a humanitarian issue.

Insurgents effectively broke a month-long government siege of eastern, opposition-held Aleppo on Saturday, severing the primary government supply corridor and raising the prospect that government-held western Aleppo might become besieged.

The United States, Britain, France, New Zealand and Ukraine organized an informal Security Council meeting on Aleppo on Monday with briefings by a “White Helmet” rescue worker and two U.S.-based doctors from the Syrian American Medical Society who recently returned from Aleppo.

“If the fighting continues it is conceivable that civilians on both sides of Aleppo could be cut off from the basic assistance they need. We cannot allow this to happen,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said.

Citing U.N. figures, Power said Syrian government forces were to blame for nearly 80 percent of the besieged areas throughout Syria. Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the outbreak of the conflict five years ago, has been divided between government forces and rebels since the summer of 2012.

“We once again urge Russia to stop facilitating these sieges and to use its influence to press the regime to end its sieges across Syria once and for all,” she said.

The United Nations aid chief has called for weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses in fighting to deliver aid to Aleppo.

Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov accused the United States and its western colleagues of politicizing a humanitarian issue, urging them to “admit that the main cause of all of the humanitarian problems in Syria is not the counter-terrorist actions by the legitimate government of Syria.

“The propaganda and the emotional rhetoric, the unfounded accusations, the information campaign, means that we cannot move toward a political settlement in Syria,” Safronkov said.

He said the first step toward ending the five-year conflict should be a pooling of efforts to combat terrorism and then a renewal of Syrian peace talks.

A crackdown by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters five years ago sparked a civil war, and Islamic State militants have used the chaos to seize territory in Syria and Iraq.

The United States and allies began bombing Islamic State militants in Syria nearly two years ago, while Russia began air strikes in support of Assad a year ago.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Gaza receives first Turkish aid shipment after Israel-Turkey deal

Palestinians check Turkish aid shipments upon arrival in the Gaza Strip at Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and southern Gaza Strip

GAZA (Reuters) – Turkish aid shipments arrived in the Gaza Strip via Israel on Monday, a week after Israel and Turkey announced they would end a six-year rupture and normalize ties.

About 11,000 tonnes of cargo, including clothing, toys and medicines destined for the Palestinian coastal territory, were ferried to the Israeli port of Ashdod by a Turkish ship that docked on Sunday.

Under the supervision of the Turkish Red Crescent Society, the first of about 500 trucks carrying the aid entered the Gaza Strip, territory controlled by Hamas Islamists, through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, witnesses said.

Relations between Israel and Turkey crumbled after Israeli marines stormed a Turkish ship in May 2010 challenging Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and killed 10 Turkish activists during fighting on board.

Last week’s rare rapprochement in the divided Middle East was driven by the prospect of lucrative Mediterranean gas deals as well as mutual concern over growing security risks, and included an Israeli pledge to enable Turkey to send aid to Gaza.

“This is the first (aid) ship after the Turkish and the Israeli governments’ agreement,” said Kerem Kinik, president of the Turkish Red Crescent, who traveled to Gaza to supervise the distribution of the goods.

He said Turkey would provide “continuous, regular humanitarian assistance” for the territory.

Last week, some 3,400 trucks carrying 107,500 tonnes of goods, including medical supplies, electronic devices, consumer goods and construction material, entered the Gaza Strip via Israel, according to Israeli authorities.

Gaza merchants can import commercial goods from Israel and elsewhere but Israel restricts the entry into the territory of so-called dual-use items, saying they can be used to make weapons and build fortifications.

Egypt, which is at odds with Hamas, keeps its border with Gaza largely closed.

(Reporting by Nidal Almughrabi; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Aid reaches all besieged areas of Syria with latest delivery

A boy unloads aid parcels in the rebel-held besieged town of Zamalka, in the Damascus suburbs

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Trucks carrying medical and food aid entered two blockaded towns near Damascus on Wednesday, meaning that humanitarian agencies have now reached all besieged areas of Syria this year, the United Nations said.

The 38-truck convoy carried aid for some 20,000 people the U.N. estimates are living in the rebel-held towns of Zamalka and Irbin, which are being besieged by the government side.

“Today is the first time we are able to move a joint convoy of the United Nations, the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent … to these two towns since November 2012, nearly four years ago,” the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator Yacoub El Hillo told reporters before the trucks headed in.

“It will mean that since the beginning of this year the U.N., the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Red Crescent have been able to reach all the besieged areas of Syria,” he added.

The ICRC said the aid included food parcels and wheat flour, hygiene kits and medicine.

The U.N. says there are more than half a million Syrians living in 18 areas across the country that are besieged by warring sides in the five-year conflict. Aid agencies reported deaths from starvation in government-besieged Madaya earlier this year.

Hillo said the delivery to Zamalka and Irbin would last about a month, and called for sieges to be lifted and regular aid access granted.

Aid agencies have repeatedly called for regular access to areas under siege, saying that one-off deliveries quickly run out and that those in need remain blockaded.

(Reporting by John Davison and Firas Makdesi in Damascus; Editing by Gareth Jones)

U.N. urges Syrian Government to stop blocking aid

Men unload flour from a Red Crescent and United Nations aid convoy in the rebel held besieged town of Hamoria area in Syria

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations’ humanitarian chief on Friday demanded that the Syrian government and militant groups stop interfering with the delivery of food and medicine for civilians trapped in besieged and difficult-to-reach areas in war-ravaged Syria.

“The continued use of siege and starvation as a weapon of war is reprehensible,” U.N. under secretary-general Stephen O’Brien told the 15-nation Security Council.

“Based on the latest information, we now estimate that some 592,700 people are currently living in besieged areas,” he said, adding that most of those were surrounded by government forces.

The five-year-old civil war in Syria has killed at least 250,000 people. Millions have been displaced and many of those are now refugees living abroad.

O’Brien said the Syrian government, and to a lesser extent the militant groups fighting the government and against each other, deliberately interfere with and restrict aid deliveries.

He complained that the U.N. had asked to send aid convoys to 35 besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria in May but the government only granted full access to 14 of them and partial access to another eight.

He added that the parties to the conflict also continued to siphon off crucial medical supplies from aid convoys.

“The removal of life-saving medicines and medical supplies such as surgical kits, midwifery kits, and emergency kits has continued unabated, with supplies for an estimated 150,000 treatments removed from convoys since the beginning of the year,” he said.

Since February 2014, medical supplies for over 650,000 treatments have been taken from aid convoys, O’Brien said.

Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari questioned the accuracy of O’Brien’s claims and blamed the bulk of the violence against civilians in Syria on Islamic State and Nusra Front militants.

O’Brien told the council he stood by his claims.

U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the complaints from Syria were ironic given that it is “a government that pulls infant formula off of convoys, (as well as) anesthetics and surgical equipment.”

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by David Gregorio)

U.N. seeks $1.3 billion in humanitarian funding for South Sudan

NAIROBI (Reuters) – The United Nations is seeking $1.3 billion in humanitarian aid for South Sudan, where two in ten of the population have been driven from their homes during two years of conflict.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and 2.3 million displaced since the country’s civil war broke out in December 2013, when soldiers loyal to President Salva Kiir first clashed with troops who backed his deputy, Riek Machar.

Eugene Owusu, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, said $1.3 billion would be the “bare minimum” needed to support 5.1 million people in the country facing life-threatening circumstances. “The challenge we face is unprecedented,” he said.

The U.N. said more than 680,000 children below the age of five are believed to be acutely malnourished.

Much of the fighting has been along ethnic lines between Kiir’s Dinka community and Machar’s Nuer people.

Progress on a peace deal signed last year has been slow, with both sides accusing the other of violating the agreement and dragging their heels over plans to form a government of national unity.

The war has also devastated South Sudan’s economy, slashing the oil production that funds most public spending.

(Reporting by Drazen Jorgic; editing by John Stonestreet)