EU voices alarm at deteriorating situation in al Qusayr

EU Commissioner for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid , Kristalina Georgieva, Monday expressed increasing alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation in recent days in the town of Al Qusayr in Syria. "This is being billed in the international media as a defining moment in the Syrian civil war, which has now claimed more than 80,000 victims, created more than 1.6 million refugees and placed nearly seven million people in need of humanitarian assistance," she said in a statement. She called on "all right-thinking people" to join he in appealing for all parties to this savage conflict to respect the fundamental rights of civilians to safe passage. "All those involved in the fighting have an obligation under International Humanitarian Law to protect the lives of the innocent. Of course these appeals have been made before but to little avail," noted Georgeiva. "Delivering humanitarian aid inside Syria is getting harder by the day. I am frustrated by the silence which reigns over the political vacuum which now envelopes the civil war.," she said. "In a moment like this we must together all raise our voices ever more loudly until our protests can no longer be ignored," added the EU official.