Red Cross demands access to wounded in Syria enclave

DAMASCUS: The International Committee of the Red Cross asked Wednesday for access to an enclave near Syria's capital where a regime aerial campaign has killed over 300 civilians and wounded 1,400 others this week.

"The fighting appears likely to cause much more suffering in the days and weeks ahead, and our teams need to be allowed to enter Eastern Ghouta to aid the wounded," said Marianne Gasser, ICRC's head of delegation in Syria.

Syrian warplanes have this month intensified their strikes on the area, which lies just east of Damascus and is home to around 400,000 civilians.

The enclave has been controlled by Islamist and jihadist groups since 2012 and besieged by government forces for five years.

The unprecedented deluge of bombs unleashed by the regime on Eastern Ghouta towns has caused massive destruction and loss of life.

Access to the area has been very restricted and only one convoy of aid has been allowed in this year.

The ICRC argued that the scope of the catastrophe in Eastern Ghouta was such that its medical teams should be allowed inside to assist local doctors and nurses who have been completely overwhelmed.

"Wounded victims are dying only because they cannot be treated in time," Gasser said.