Feb 21, 2018

Russia has called for a UN Security Council meeting to be held Thursday on the violence engulfing the Syrian rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta, Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said.

Nebenzia told the council that the open meeting would allow all sides to "present their vision, their understanding of the situation and come up with ways of getting out of this situation."

"I think this is necessary given the concern that we heard today," he added.

He spoke shortly after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate halt to fighting in Eastern Ghouta wher

e he said 400,000 people were living "in hell on earth."