The United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said that a pause in fighting in Syria “is better than nothing” but warned that it is not enough.
“We need more than a pause in Syria. The plight of the civilians – I don’t need to express it even more because what more can we say about the plight of the people in Syria other than the level of despair has reached unprecedented levels, perhaps anywhere in the world, and we need to really have not a pause, but peace – this is different – this is a longer term prospect – or at least a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities that allows us to reach hundreds of thousands of people that we haven’t been able to reach for so long,” continued Grandi.
Russia has agreed to a 48-hour humanitarian ceasefire in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo to allow aid deliveries, but UN officials said that security guarantees are expected from other parties on the ground. The United Nations’ call for a ceasefire in the northern city of Aleppo, is meant to alleviate suffering from some 2 million people living there.