Syrian regime tells UN: ‘We care about our people’

Syria told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that no one cares more about the Syrian people than President Bashar al-Assad’s government after the United Nations accused rival parties in the five-year conflict of war crimes by starving civilians.


The Security Council met to discuss the besiegement of some 400,000 people in Syria. The U.N. says half are in ISIS controlled areas, some 180,000 in government areas and about 12,000 in areas controlled by opposition armed groups.

It is the second meeting the council has held on the issue this week after images emerged of starving civilians in the town of Madaya, which is besieged by pro-Syrian government forces. International relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it has confirmed 35 deaths from starvation in Madaya.

“The Syrian government is the government that is most mindful of its people,” Syria’s deputy U.N. envoy Mounzer Mounzer told the 15-member council.

“No one can claim to care more about our people than we do, no other country, especially when it comes to providing assistance to areas under the control of armed terrorist groups,” he said...
  alarabiya.net - Reuters
16/1/16
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Related:

• Le conseil de sécurité de l’ONU demande l’arrêt des sièges de villes en Syrie  

• ‘West using Madaya, humanitarian crisis in Syria to undermine peace talks’ – Russian dep envoy to UN 

• Starvation ‘as a weapon’ is a war crime, UN chief warns parties to conflict in Syria