UN Calls for Humanitarian Pause in Syria’s Aleppo Fighting

UNITED NATIONS Russia warned on Tuesday that the next round of Syria peace talks should not be contingent on a halt to fighting in Aleppo after U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told the U.N. Security Council he aims to reconvene negotiations in late August.

But Aleppo’s sick and wounded lack access to health care.

The United Nations is calling for an immediate halt to the fighting and at minimum a two-day weekly humanitarian cease-fire to allow for the city’s water and electrical systems to be repaired.

Access is needed to deliver food and medical supplies and for technicians to fix electricity networks that drive water pumping stations, which were heavily damaged in attacks on civilian infrastructure last week.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), an estimated 250,000-275,000 people have remained trapped in east Aleppo since early July following the closure of Castello road, the last remaining access route into this area.

“If the fighting continues it is conceivable that civilians on both sides of Aleppo could be cut off from the basic assistance they need”. “The UN is extremely concerned that the consequences will be dire for millions of civilians if the electricity and water networks are not immediately repaired”, they underscored.

UNICEF said it and its partners were scaling up their emergency response to bring safe drinking water to civilians in Damascus.

Fatah Halab, a coalition of national and local rebel groups, broke the government-imposed siege on the city over the weekend.

Emboldened by their recent win, the rebel alliance on Sunday announced an ambitious bid to capture all of Aleppo city, which if successful would mark the biggest opposition victory yet in Syria’s conflict.

Smoke and rubble rise after Syrian oppositions blow up a tunnel under Syrian Regime forces’ headquarters in Aleppo’s Ramuse region, Syria, Aug. 3, 2016.

Two U.N. aid officials, Yacoub El Hillo and Kevin Kennedy, said in a statement that the water and electricity infrastructure has been damaged in the fighting.

If this is not done, residents will have no choice but to resort to risky practises, such as drinking water from wells which may be contaminated by faecal matter rendering it unsafe to drink, Unicef said. Their advance severed the primary government supply corridor running into the city from the south and raised the prospect that government-held western Aleppo might in turn become besieged by the insurgents.

Children were being put at risk, Unicef added, as water cuts in the province during a heat wave increase the chances of disease. Getting clean water running again can not wait for the fighting to stop.