UAE welcomes UN's ceasefire resolution on Syria

Dr Anwar Gargash said that protecting civilians should be top priority

UAE's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash speaks at an event at Chatham House in London, Britain on July 17, 2017. Neil Hall / Reuters

The UAE welcomed the UN Security Council’s resolution for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, said the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs.

“The UAE welcomes the UNSC adoption of the immediate ceasefire in Syria,” tweeted Dr Anwar Gargash early Sunday.

“Protecting civilians must be the international community’s first priority. The Syrian people have suffered enough.”

The security council on Saturday demanded a ceasefire, as new air strikes on the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta took the civilian death toll from seven days of bombing to more than 500.

It adopted a resolution on the ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical evacuations, however, the measure did not specify when the truce would go into effect beyond saying it should be “without delay”.

After the unanimous vote by the 15-member council, Syrian warplanes — backed by Russian air power — launched new raids on Eastern Ghouta, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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Read more:

UN demands ceasefire as warplanes pound Ghouta

Eastern Ghouta: the guilty parties have a terrible account to settle

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At least 127 children are among the 519 dead in the bombing campaign that the regime of Syrian president Bashar Al Assad launched last Sunday on the rebel enclave, just outside Damascus, the Observatory said. On Saturday, at least 41 civilians were killed.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to speak by phone on Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to push for the ceasefire to take hold “in the coming days”, said the Elysee.