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UN Security Council to Meet Over Syria’s East Ghouta on Thursday

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The UN Security Council will meet at noon on Thursday to address the humanitarian crisis in the Syrian suburb of Eastern Ghouta on the edge of Damascus, the Kuwaiti mission said.
Sputnik

"At 12:00pm, the Security Council will meet in the Open Chamber on the situation in Eastern Gouta. A representative of OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] will brief the Council," it said.

Russia's envoy to the organization, Vassily Nebenzia, asked the Council on Wednesday to convene an open meeting so that member states could work out a solution.

Separately, Kuwait and Sweden put forward a resolution ordering a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire across Syria. The Swedish mission told Sputnik it expected the draft to be put to vote as soon as possible.

ICRC Calls for Moderation, Access to Injured in Syria's Eastern Ghouta
Eastern Ghouta is one of four de-escalation zones that were agreed on at the Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana with Russia, Iran and Turkey as guarantors.

The UN estimates that almost 400,000 people have been trapped in the area besieged by government troops, while Russia argues that Damascus has been attacked by militants controlling the enclave.

Earlier, Russian military reported that that peace negotiations in the Damascus suburb have been derailed, saying that appeals to illegal armed groups to cease resistance and surrender arms were unsuccessful.

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