France seeks urgent Security Council meeting on Aleppo

PARIS

France Tuesday officially requested an immediate and urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the "humanitarian disaster" in the Syrian city of Aleppo.

In a statement, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called on the Security Council “to meet immediately to examine the situation of this martyred city and how to bring relief to its population.”

"More than ever before, we need to urgently put in place means to end the hostilities and to allow humanitarian aid to get through unhindered," Ayrault said.

France made the request as one of the Security Council’s five permanent members.

Also a key backer of the Syrian opposition, France is due to host a high-level meeting in Paris between countries supporting the moderate Syrian opposition in early December.

More than 508 civilians have been killed and 1,871 others injured since mid-November in regime and allies attacks on Aleppo – once Syria’s second-largest city. In the last 10 days, all hospitals and medical facilities have halted operations due to attacks.

School activities have also been severely disrupted.

Syria has been locked in a devastating civil war since early 2011, when the regime of President Bashar al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced.