BRUSSELS, Feb 21, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The EU’s 27 leaders on Friday condemned
Syrian government attacks on the city of Idlib, the country’s last rebel
enclave, warning of humanitarian disaster.
“The renewed military offensive in Idlib by the Syrian regime and its
backers, causing enormous human suffering, is unacceptable,” said the EU
council, which represents the EU’s 27 member states.
“The EU urges all parties to the conflict to fully respect their
obligations under international humanitarian law and international human
rights law and to allow unimpeded and direct humanitarian access to all those
in need,” the statement added.
The warning came during an EU summit devoted to drawing up an EU budget.
As he arrived for the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said events
in northwest Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad’s Russian-backed forces
are seeking to triumph in the country’s nine-year civil war, could not be
ignored.
“For weeks one of the worst humanitarian dramas has been unfolding,” Macron
said.
“I wish to condemn in the strongest terms the military attacks carried out
for several weeks by Bashar al-Assad’s regime against the civilian population
of Idlib.”
Macron called on the UN Security Council — which France is a permanent
member of — to “take responsibility” after Russia blocked it adopting a
statement calling for a ceasefire.
Syrian aid workers are urging a ceasefire and international help for nearly
a million people fleeing the regime’s onslaught in Idlib — the biggest wave
of displaced civilians in the conflict.
The UN said 900,000 people had been displaced in “horrendous conditions”
since December 1, more than 500,000 of them children.