BICOM

The Syrian regime violated the UN agreed 30-day ceasefire just hours after it was unanimously approved by the UN Security Council on Saturday.

According to local activists, regime military aircraft hit targets in the besieged Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta. “Warplanes carried out airstrikes targeting areas in the town of Shifouniya in Eastern Ghouta,” the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, leaving nine people dead and injured 31, bringing the death toll from a week of bombardment to reportedly more than 500 with 2,500 injured.

Rebel groups fighting forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said they clashed with pro-Damascus fighters on several fronts despite the ceasefire resolution. There were also reports that a number of people were taken into hospitals with symptoms that indicated possible use of chlorine gas.

The ceasefire agreement demands a truce to allow for aid access and medical evacuations but does not apply to operations against the Islamic State (IS) group, al-Qaeda and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The resolution was adopted after seven consecutive days of bombing by pro-government forces of Eastern Ghouta.

During the UN Security council session on Saturday, Stephen Hickley, political co-ordinator at the UK Mission to the UN, said: “For the mother giving birth underground in Eastern Ghouta. For the child unable to go to school. For the doctor battling airstrikes to treat patients. All of us sitting here today owe it to the people of Syria to work together to bring peace.”

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on “those with influence over the regime” to “ensure the ceasefire is implemented in full”.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley criticised Russia for the delay in adopting the resolution: “In the three days it took us to adopt this resolution, how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing and shelling? How many more images did we need to see of fathers holding their dead children? All for nothing, because here we are voting for a ceasefire that could have saved lives days ago.”

After the vote, Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja’afari, said the regime would continue to go after what it deemed terrorist groups: “We practice a sovereign right of self-defence, and we will continue to fight terrorism wherever it is found on Syrian soil.”