French President Emmanuel Macron has appealed to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for the Kremlin to use its influence to allow the establishment of humanitarian aid corridors in war-torn Syria.
The French leader spoke to Putin by phone on November 3 and told the Russian leader "humanitarian access [should be] guaranteed as soon as possible, in particular in Eastern Ghouta where hundreds of thousands of people are in great distress," Macron's office said in a statement.
Russia, Iran, and Turkey have been in talks to establish, organize, and coordinate at least four de-escalation zones in Syria. But humanitarian aid, which is subject to authorization by Syrian authorities, is having trouble reaching the area.
The region is one of the last strongholds of rebels fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad since 2011.
