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United Nations Nations Unies Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 1 UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR, STEPHEN O’BRIEN Statement to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Syria New York, 27 April 2017 As delivered live from Geneva Ms. President, On 15 April, the exhausted, oppressed people of Syria suffered yet another horrendous attack. Scared and starved men, women and children from the towns of Foah and Kefraya were targeted by a car bomb while stuck at a checkpoint in Rashadeen. There were 67 children among the 125 dead. Such a terrible price for those already robbed of so much. Yet I do not raise the incident solely because of the loss of life or depravity of the attackers. Rather, it was the unity of the humanitarian response to the attack that ought also to be in the headlines. Humanitarians from all directions rushed in to save lives. Syrian Arab Red Crescent workers, first responders, medical NGO staff, some 15 Syrian NGOs along with countless civilians, bound together to aid survivors as best they could. Out of a deplorable terrorist act arose a testament to the strength of the Syrian spirit – of ordinary civilian Syrians coming together to help others, regardless of their background. All too sadly, such glimmers of humanity, acts that we see everyday at a local level across Syria, are overshadowed by the sheer number and ferocity of attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and markets. The last months have seen fighting continue to intensify on numerous fronts. The Secretary-General has said time and again that there will be no military end to this conflict. Yet, military might continues to be used against civilians in a way that defies all reason, let alone morality or the law. The use of abhorrent chemical weapons on 4 April in Khan Shaykhun is yet another horrific account of such brutality. I wish I could say mindless brutality – but no, it was deliberate, planned, predetermined, by other humans against their own fellow human beings, sheer unbridled cruelty by leaders and commanders. And we await the investigation to confirm which ones