NEW YORK, Dec 2 (KUNA -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed alarm at the escalation of violence in Syria and urged all parties to immediately halt the fighting.
All parties must honor their obligations under the international humanitarian law and do their utmost to protect the civilians and civilian objects, he said in a press release on Monday.
Stressing the need of allowing safe passage for the civilians who are fleeing the conflict, the Secretary-General urged the warring parties to return immediately to the UN-facilitated political process pursuant to the Security Council Resolution 2254.
Besides dozens of thousands of casualties, 14 years of the civil war forced scores of Syrian civilians to flee their homes due to the extensive damage to the civilian infrastructure and disruption of delivery of humanitarian aid, he noted. The Secretary-General stressed the urgency of all parties returning to the political process and engaging with his Special Envoy for Syria Geir O. Pedersen in order to end the bloodshed as early as possible. (end) ast.gb