UN aid chief warns of 'unparalleled' catastrophe in Aleppo

August 23, 2016 00:39

The United Nations' top aid official voiced anger today at world powers' inability to agree on a truce to allow aid into Aleppo, warning of an "unparalleled" humanitarian catastrophe in the battleground Syrian city.

Stephen O'Brien told the Security Council that plans were in place to quickly send 70 trucks loaded with humanitarian aid to eastern Aleppo if all sides agreed on a truce.

"I'm not going to pretend. I'm angry, very angry," O'Brien told council members holding their third meeting on the crisis in Aleppo this month.

"As the UN's humanitarian chief, this callous carnage that is Syria has long since moved from the cynical to the sinful."

O'Brien renewed his call for a 48-hour pause in fighting in Aleppo, where the violence escalated sharply in July when regime forces surrounded the rebel-held east.

Up to 275,000 people in eastern Aleppo have been almost entirely cut off from food, water, medicine and electricity for over a month, while 1.5 million people living in the west of the city also face severe shortages.

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