UN prepares to redeploy staff to monitor process in Aleppo

As the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) resumed this morning evacuations from besieged neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo, the United Nations reported that it has received authorization to send 20 international and national staff to the city to play a critical role in the monitoring and the response.

The spokesperson for the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, noted that perhaps 100 UN staff members are already in western Aleppo and ready to deploy to the eastern districts.

Yesterday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to enable the UN and its partners to carry out monitoring activities on evacuations from eastern Aleppo, report on such operations, and deploy additional staff. It “demands all parties to provide these monitors with safe, immediate, and unimpeded access.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that "Aleppo is now a synonym for hell." He also noted: "We have collectively failed the people of Syria."