United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Monday for warring sides to implement a 30-day ceasefire across Syria, in line with an appeal by major powers at the weekend.
U.N. aid agencies are ready to deliver life-saving aid and evacuate critically wounded from the rebel-held Damascus enclave of eastern Ghouta, where 400,000 people have been living under siege, Guterres said.
“Eastern Ghouta cannot wait, it is high time to stop this hell on earth,” Guterres told the U.N. Human Rights Council, which opened its main four-week annual session in Geneva.
U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said air strikes on eastern Ghouta were continuing on Monday morning.