As about 250 people announced dead so far, most of the international community is calling for an urgent solution to rescue the eastern Ghouta people from their ‘certain death’- Reuters
CAIRO - 22 February 2018: With about 250 people announced dead so far, most of the international community is calling for an urgent solution to rescue the people of Eastern Ghouta from their “certain death” amid the armed parties and regime stubbornness to continue their fight and the failure of peace talks to reach a political solution.
“There is an urgent need to reach a ceasefire between the political parties inside eastern Ghouta in Syria in order to avoid a real and serious humanitarian catastrophe,” the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement issued Thursday, February 22. It was added that communications are taking place now between several governments and international organizations in order to control the consequences of the current dangerous situation.
The statement also expressed Egypt’s deep concern over the latest escalations and their effect on the Syrian civilians. The ministry condemned any shelling of civilian areas in Ghouta, Damascus and throughout Syria.
Egypt has been a key player regarding reaching a stable circumstances in Syria and especially, in Ghouta. It has been announced more than once than any solution other than a political one will not end the struggle as it won’t fulfill the Syrian people’s demands of a stable and secure country.
In July 2017 Syria's Tomorrow opposition movement signed a ceasefire agreement with the Syrian regime in Eastern Ghouta . The agreement was signed with Egyptian mediation after three day-negations in the presence of representatives of the Syrian opposition, Syrian regime and the Russian Defense Ministry.
The agreement’s stated conditions include: “a complete ceasefire binding to all parties, the entry ban of all military troops into Eastern Ghouta, and building Russian observation sites inside Ghouta to monitor the parties’ commitment to the agreement.”
“This agreement should ease the Syrian people's suffering, and improve their living conditions,” the ceasefire statement released by the movement read.
The movement also thanked President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, and the Egyptian government for its mediation and efforts in hosting the negotiations and the signing of the agreement. “Finally we hope this agreement is one of the steps towards achieving peace inside the whole Syrian territory.”
Because of this agreement, humanitarian aid reached Eastern Ghouta for the first time in five years.
In September 2017, Egypt hosted a two-day conference between the Syrian parties as another step towards peace. It represented a real chance for the Syrian tribes to sit-down and talk in an environment that believes in political solutions and national dialogues as the only path for stability and unity.
However, the cease fire didn’t last long, amid mutual accusations between the Syrian government and opposition that both of them are violating the peace calls to stop violence, Moscow announced that peace talks had ‘collapsed’.
Several international governments and organizations including France, the United Nations and the United States of America demanded all parties drop their weapons and start real dialog.
Other accusations of using chemical weapons against the Syrian people were reported by the American administration, blaming the Syrian regime; which completely denied the accusations.
As per a request from Kuwait and Sweden, the United Nations Security Council will vote on Thursday on a draft law for a 30-day ceasefire in order to allow the humanitarian aid to reach the city again.
The law (if agreed) will temporarily end the Syrian people’s struggle, stopping the siege imposed on them for a long time, and especially during the past five days. According to UN statistics about 346 civilians have been killed and 878 others have been injured in Eastern Ghouta since February 4.
The Syrian political situation has been deteriorating since protests emerged with the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011, when the opposition created the Free Syrian Army to face Assad’s forces. The situation worsened when the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group began interfering in the country in 2014.
About 470,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the war as of February 2016, according to the latest data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Some 1.6 million Syrians have been domestically displaced, while the number of refugees reached 4.8 million people, the data added.
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