Activists Say Syrian Missile Hit Aleppo
Syrian opposition activists say a missile attack late Monday
leveled several buildings in the northern commercial city of Aleppo. They say at
least 19 people were killed in the strike on the city's Jabal Badro district.
The dead include women and children.
An opposition activist based in Aleppo told Reuters another 25 people were still buried under the rubble.
Video posted online claimed to show neighborhood residents trying to clear debris from the blast site, while pulling at least one body from the rubble.
Meanwhile, Syrian officials say two mortar rounds have exploded near the Tishreen presidential palace in Damascus.
They said the mortar shells hit near the southern wall of the palace, causing some damage but no injuries. It was not clear whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was at the palace at the time of the attack.
UN warnings
The United Nations, meanwhile, is renewing its warnings about the growing humanitarian crisis in Syria.
The U.N.'s World Health Organization said Tuesday that at least 2,500 people in rebel-held areas of the northeast have been afflicted by an outbreak of typhoid.
Typhoid is a bacterial disease that spreads as a result of contact with contaminated food or drink.
The WHO said ongoing fighting has cut off access to electricity and clean water, forcing many people to drink water from the sewage-contaminated Euphrates River.
Russia said Tuesday it had sent two plane-loads of relief supplies to the Syrian port city of Latakia. A foreign ministry spokesman said Russians still in Syria were being invited to board the same planes to return to Russia.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov also said at a news conference in Moscow Tuesday that Russia would not immediately back calls to refer suspected war criminals in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Aid increase
Meeting in Geneva on Tuesday, U.N. aid representatives and humanitarian agencies said they are trying to keep up with the rising needs of Syrians but are hampered by the lack of safe access to battle zones.
The World Food Program, which is feeding 1.5 million people a month, says it will increase the number of beneficiaries to 2.5 million over the coming months.
The U.N. Children’s Fund says it is stepping up delivery of humanitarian assistance in Syria despite a significant shortfall of money. It is delivering relief supplies including blankets, children’s clothes and high-energy biscuits.
U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said the crisis requires a political solution.
“If this crisis continues to drag on, the impact in terms of what is happening to people on the ground, what is happening to those who are fleeing across the border into neighboring countries, what is happening in terms of the impact in terms of loss of life — it will just become bigger and bigger," Amos said.
Amos says U.N. agencies are delivering aid with the help of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and a number of local non-governmental organizations.
“So we are scaling up our efforts in terms of working with those community-based organizations on the ground," she said. "But their capacity still remains small compared to the need that we need to reach inside of the country.”
Lisa Schlein contributed to this report from Geneva and Jeff Seldin contributed from Washington.
fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/activists-say-syrian-missile-hits-aleppo/1606396.html
An opposition activist based in Aleppo told Reuters another 25 people were still buried under the rubble.
Video posted online claimed to show neighborhood residents trying to clear debris from the blast site, while pulling at least one body from the rubble.
Meanwhile, Syrian officials say two mortar rounds have exploded near the Tishreen presidential palace in Damascus.
They said the mortar shells hit near the southern wall of the palace, causing some damage but no injuries. It was not clear whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was at the palace at the time of the attack.
UN warnings
The United Nations, meanwhile, is renewing its warnings about the growing humanitarian crisis in Syria.
The U.N.'s World Health Organization said Tuesday that at least 2,500 people in rebel-held areas of the northeast have been afflicted by an outbreak of typhoid.
Typhoid is a bacterial disease that spreads as a result of contact with contaminated food or drink.
The WHO said ongoing fighting has cut off access to electricity and clean water, forcing many people to drink water from the sewage-contaminated Euphrates River.
Russia said Tuesday it had sent two plane-loads of relief supplies to the Syrian port city of Latakia. A foreign ministry spokesman said Russians still in Syria were being invited to board the same planes to return to Russia.
Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov also said at a news conference in Moscow Tuesday that Russia would not immediately back calls to refer suspected war criminals in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Aid increase
Meeting in Geneva on Tuesday, U.N. aid representatives and humanitarian agencies said they are trying to keep up with the rising needs of Syrians but are hampered by the lack of safe access to battle zones.
The World Food Program, which is feeding 1.5 million people a month, says it will increase the number of beneficiaries to 2.5 million over the coming months.
The U.N. Children’s Fund says it is stepping up delivery of humanitarian assistance in Syria despite a significant shortfall of money. It is delivering relief supplies including blankets, children’s clothes and high-energy biscuits.
U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said the crisis requires a political solution.
“If this crisis continues to drag on, the impact in terms of what is happening to people on the ground, what is happening to those who are fleeing across the border into neighboring countries, what is happening in terms of the impact in terms of loss of life — it will just become bigger and bigger," Amos said.
Amos says U.N. agencies are delivering aid with the help of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and a number of local non-governmental organizations.
“So we are scaling up our efforts in terms of working with those community-based organizations on the ground," she said. "But their capacity still remains small compared to the need that we need to reach inside of the country.”
Lisa Schlein contributed to this report from Geneva and Jeff Seldin contributed from Washington.
fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/activists-say-syrian-missile-hits-aleppo/1606396.html
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