‘Extreme’ Suffering in Syria as Government Steps Up Bombing<br />The deal to ease violence in certain areas, brokered by Russia with Turkey and Iran — as well as the rout of the Islamic State from most of its territory last year — may have given people the false impression<br />that the Syrian war was winding down, Mr. Moumtzis said.<br />Mr. Moumtzis said the United Nations would "ask the government of Syria to stop besiegement,"<br />and he condemned the lack of cooperation from some rebel groups on aid deliveries.<br />Mr. Moumtzis called the lack of aid delivery approvals "really outrageous,"<br />and the rash of attacks on medical facilities "unacceptable." "Humanitarian diplomacy is failing," he said.<br />The government is carrying out scorched-earth attacks in two of the last major rebel-held areas — near Damascus<br />and in Idlib — and Turkey is striking a Kurdish area on the northern border.<br />Supported by By Anne Barnard BEIRUT, Lebanon — At least 80 people were killed on Tuesday in Syrian government air<br />and artillery strikes on besieged suburbs of the capital, Damascus, one of the last rebel-held strongholds.<br />United Nations humanitarian officials declared the situation "extreme" even for the nearly seven-year war,<br />and called on Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire for at least a month to allow aid deliveries.
