UN demands ceasefire as warplanes pound Ghouta

Some 500 people have been killed in the last week in the rebel-held enclave

A member of the Syrian Civil Defense group carries a young man who was wounded during airstrikes and shelling by Syrian government forces, in Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, Syria. Syrian Civil Defense White Helmets via AP

Injured people receive medical attention inside a hospital after bombs fell on rebel-held Douma, Eastern Ghouta. Mohammed Badra / EPA

Children cry in a hospital in the rebel-held town of Douma, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, following reported regime bombardment on the area on February 24, 2018. Hamza Al-Ajweh / AFP

A Syrian girl looks at another crying child sitting on a hospital bed in a make-shift clinic in the rebel-held town of Douma, in the besieged Eastern Ghouta region on the outskirts of the capital Damascus, after they arrived to receive medical attention following reported regime bombardment on the area. Hamza Al-Ajweh / AFP

The after effect of shelling on a steets of rebel-held Douma, Eastern Ghouta, 24 February 2018. Mohammed Badra / EPA

American Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks after the United Nations Security Council voted on a resolution demanding a 30-day humanitarian cease-fire across Syria on Saturday, February 24, 2018 at United Nations headquarters. Craig Ruttle / AP Photo

A demonstrator holds a flag and a doll during a Syria solidarity protest outside the Houses of Parliament, in central London. Paul Hackett / Reuters

Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations Bashar al-Ja'afari (C) speaks after the vote on the resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire for the purpose of allowing humanitarian aid to reach citizens in Syria at a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York. Peter Foley / EPA

The UN Security Council on Saturday demanded a 30-day truce across Syria as rescuers in the country's eastern Ghouta region said bombing had not let up long enough for them to count bodies during one of the bloodiest air assaults of the seven-year war.

Shortly after the unanimous vote by the 15-member council, warplanes struck a town in eastern Ghouta, the last rebel enclave near Syria's capital, an emergency service and a war monitoring group said. Warplanes have pounded the region for seven straight days while residents holed up in basements.

UN chief Antonio Guterres appealed on Wednesday for an immediate end to "war activities" in eastern Ghouta, where nearly 400,000 people have lived under government siege since 2013 without enough food or medicine.

While Syrian ally Russia supported the adoption of the UN resolution, its UN Ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, cast doubt on its feasibility. Previous ceasefire deals on the ground have had a poor record of ending fighting in Syria, where President Bashar Al Assad's military has gained the upper hand.

“What is necessary is for the demands of the Security Council to be underpinned by concrete, on-the-ground agreements,” Nebenzia told the council after the vote. He later told reporters it was unrealistic to expect an immediate ceasefire and that the parties had to be encouraged to work for it.

After several days of delay and last-minute negotiations to win the support of Russia, the council adopted the resolution – drafted by Sweden and Kuwait – demanding hostilities cease for 30-days “without delay” to allow aid access and medical evacuations.

"We accept that it might take a number of hours before it can all be fully implemented ... we just have to keep the pressure up. Implementation is key now," Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom told Reuters.

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Russia did not want to specify when a truce would start, so a proposal for the truce to begin 72 hours after adoption was watered-down to demand it start "without delay".

Further talks on Saturday added a demand for all parties to "engage immediately to ensure full and comprehensive implementation".

“As they dragged out the negotiation, the bombs from Assad's fighter jets continued to fall. In the three days it took us to adopt this resolution, how many mothers lost their kids to the bombing and shelling?” US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told the council.

"We are deeply skeptical that the regime will comply," Haley said.

A surge of rocket fire, shelling and air strikes has killed more than 500 people since last Sunday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The dead included more than 120 children.

The monitor said raids hit Douma, Zamalka and other towns there on Saturday, killing 40 people.

After the UN vote the two dominant rebel factions in Ghouta – Failaq Al Rahman and Jaish Al Islam – both committed to implementing the truce and facilitating aid access, but also reiterated their right to respond to any attacks on them.

Medical charities have decried attacks on a dozen hospitals. The Syrian government and Russia say they only target militants. Moscow and Damascus have said they seek to stop mortar attacks injuring dozens in the capital, and have accused insurgents in Ghouta of holding people as human shields.

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian military.

“We are combating terrorism on our territories,” Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told the Security Council.

“Our government will reserve the right to respond as it deems appropriate in case those terrorist arms groups are targeting civilians in any part of Syria with even one single missile.”

Ja'afari said his government interpreted the resolution as also applying to "Turkish forces in Afrin, and the operations of the anti-ISIL coalition in Syria ... Israeli forces in Syria, especially the occupied Syrian Golan."

The truce demanded by the Security Council does not cover militants from ISIL, Al Qaeda and the Nusra Front.