250,000 beyond reach of aid in besieged Syrian communities

250,000 beyond reach of aid in besieged Syrian communities

PanARMENIAN.Net - An estimated 250,000 people in besieged communities in Syria remain beyond the reach of aid, the UN's humanitarian chief said in a closed-door Security Council briefing that one member called "chilling", Belfast Telegraph reported.

Deep divisions in the council have kept it from taking more action on the two-and-a-half-year-old civil war that activists say has killed more than 120,000 people.

Baroness Valerie Amos's task has been to tell the world body about the worsening conditions for millions of civilians in Syria - and how difficult it is to reach them.

Baroness Amos was able to report "modest progress" in such basics as getting 50 more long-demanded visas for aid workers and opening three humanitarian hubs inside Syria, "only two of which are helpful to us".

But "we have not seen any progress" in the major issues of protecting civilians and demilitarising schools and hospitals, Baroness Amos said. Last month, she told the council that the number of Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance has risen dramatically to 9.3 million people, up from 6.8 million in June.

Against those numbers, she said the Syrian government approved nine aid convoys last month, up from the usual three.

"This is still far too few to meet the needs of millions of people," Baroness Amos said.

Her comments come as the international community prepares for long-delayed peace talks on Syria that will begin on January 22 in Geneva. The meeting would be the first face-to-face talks between president Bashar Assad's government and its opponents since the conflict began in March 2011.

Syria's main Western-backed opposition group has urged the international community to pressure Assad's government to secure humanitarian corridors so that aid can reach opposition-held areas blockaded by Assad's forces. The sieges have led to cases of famine, activists say.

The government has kept outside aid sharply limited. Baroness Amos on Tuesday, December 3 said that for the first time, aid coming in over the Iraqi border will not need routing through Damascus, but aid coming in over other borders will.

Already, diseases are spreading because of lack of access to basic hygiene and vaccinations, including reports of the first outbreak of polio in Syria in 14 years.

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