Paris urges Damascus to allow humanitarian aid into Qusayr

French officials on Wednesday urged the Damascus regime to allow international organisations to bring aid to beleaguered Syrians and particularly in the urgent case of Qusayr, which is under heavy siege and the scene of fierce fighting. "The dramatic situation that the town of Quasyr is witnessing currently shows again the urgency of free access to bring help to civilian populations in Syria," Foreign Ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said in a briefing. But the French official was not hopeful of getting some internationally-backed "humanitarian corridor" established around the embattled town, where opposition forces are under increasing pressure from regime troops supported by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters. The opposition groups have pleaded from some sort of corridor to take out wounded and innocent civilians and refugees. "The establishment of humanitarian corridors has already been studied several times, each time that Syrian zones have been the target of brutal repression by the regime," Lalliot pointed out, warning that there were serious constraints involved. "The establishment of humanitarian corridors needs robust protection on the ground. In the absence of consent from Damascus, such an operation would need a binding resolution from the United Nations Security Council, that means under Chapter VII, and therefore with an international consensus that we don't have today," he remarked. Russia, backed by China, have twice in the past blocked efforts to pressure the regime of Bashar Al-Assad and would certainly block any attempt to set up an air-exclusion zone or a humanitarian corridor without approval from Damascus. "Humanitarian aid access to civilian populations is essential. The authorities in Damascus must allow international humanitarian organisations and NGO's free access to their territory," the spokesman urged. He said France was continuing to supply aid through "possible channels", via the UN and also via the Syrian National Coalition, which represents the bulk of the opposition forces in Syria