Germany calls for humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta

By Ayhan Simsek

BERLIN

Germany has called for urgent humanitarian access to the Syrian enclave of Eastern Ghouta amid worsening conditions for around 400,000 civilians trapped in the region besieged by Assad forces.

“We are deeply worried about the disastrous humanitarian situation in Eastern Ghouta,” Germany’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday.

It also condemned recent airstrikes by regime forces.

“We are condemning the attacks and the continued siege in Eastern Ghouta and are calling for the implementation of the Astana agreements with immediate effect, ensuring humanitarian access to the de-escalation zones,” the statement said.

Germany has accused Assad regime forces of using starvation tactics against civilians as well as bombing hospitals and schools in Eastern Ghouta.

“The urgent medical evacuations must be allowed immediately. This is an obligation particularly for Russia, which is a supporter of the al-Assad regime and a guarantor of the Astana Principles,” the ministry said.

Home to some 400,000 civilians, Eastern Ghouta has been under siege by regime forces since December 2012.

The besieged area falls within a network of de-escalation zones set up in Syria by Turkey, Russia and Iran in which acts of aggression are forbidden.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN officials.