The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
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Posted: Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:35 PM
Ten People Killed In Airstrikes In Syria Despite UN Ceasefire
Syrian state television showed live footage of the Harasta suburb being bombed and shelled with artillery.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, known as White Helmets, said nine people were killed in an airstrike shortly after midnight in the suburb of Douma and one person was killed in Harasta.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke at the start of the session of the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council on Monday, saying it is “it's "high time to stop this hell on Earth" in eastern Ghouta.
He criticized the participants in the conflict for failing to abide by a 30-day cease-fire the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted on Saturday in a bid to deliver humanitarian aid to millions and evacuate the sick and wounded from the warzone.
Guterres said he welcomes the cease-fire resolution but stressed that council resolutions "are only meaningful if they are effectively implemented." He expects the “resolution to be immediately implemented and sustained”
The U.N. official reiterated the calls for safe and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid and services and evacuation of critically ill and wounded.
The latest deaths follow the 14 people killed on Sunday in Syria’s embattled eastern Ghouta region, located on the edge of Damascus, despite the international pressure to cease any violence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.