World leaders called Thursday for an urgent cease-fire in Syria, as government forces pounded the rebel-controlled eastern suburbs of the capital, Damascus, in a crushing campaign that has killed hundreds of people in recent days.
The U.N. Security Council heard a briefing from U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock on what he called "the humanitarian disaster unfolding before our eyes" in the rebel-held suburbs of eastern Ghouta.
Sweden and Kuwait were seeking a vote on a resolution ordering a 30-day cease-fire to allow relief agencies to deliver aid and evacuate the critically sick and wounded from besieged areas to receive medical care.
But Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, who called Thursday's meeting, put forward last-minute amendments, saying the proposed resolution was "simply unrealistic."
Russia's amendments would rule out an immediate cease-fire and instead demand that all parties "stop hostilities as soon as possible" and "work for an immediate and unconditional de-escalation of violence" and a 30-day "humanitarian pause."
The Russian proposal would also condemn the "relentless shelling" of Damascus from eastern Ghouta, and deplore "the ongoing attempts by terrorist groups to retake areas and attack civilians and civilian objects."
Several council diplomats who examined the draft said it was unacceptable.
Nebenzia accused global media outlets of a massive disinformation campaign that ignored what he claimed were thousands of fighters, including al-Qaida-linked militants, shelling Damascus from eastern Ghouta and taking refuge in hospitals and schools.
Security Council members said they needed to study the Russian proposals.
"We will try and find a way forward that works for everyone," Swedish U.N. Ambassador Olof Skoog told reporters. He said a vote was likely on Friday.
In eastern Ghouta, medical workers said they had not been able to see their families for days as they worked around the clock at hospitals that have been moved underground to protect them from bombing, while their spouses and children were staying in shelters.
"You can't be above ground for even 15 minutes," said a nurse in the town of Kafr Batna, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"At any moment I expect to have to treat my relatives for wounds," he said. He added that a barrel bomb had fallen less than 500 yards away.
A spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defense search and rescue group said eastern Ghouta was being targeted for "extermination."
"This is a war against civilians," Siraj Mahmoud said. "The civil defense is being targeted as they rescue women and children, evacuate civilians from targeted areas and put out fires."
Four rescue workers from the organization, also known as the White Helmets, have been killed since Sunday, Mahmoud said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said 400 people, including dozens of children, have been killed since Sunday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said al-Qaida-linked fighters were using civilians as human shields in the rebel-held suburbs outside Damascus.
However, al-Qaida's Syria affiliate is not known to have many fighters in eastern Ghouta, and government forces on Thursday concentrated their fire on hospitals, ambulances, apartment blocks and other civilian sites, according to rescue workers, war monitors, human rights groups, and several videos emerging from the war-scarred region.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for an immediate suspension of "all war activities" in the area, saying people there were living "in hell on Earth."
The Russian military is supporting Assad's forces in the assault on eastern Ghouta, as it did in the 2016 campaign that drove the rebels from the enclaves they controlled in Syria's largest city, Aleppo. Then, as now, it cited the presence of al-Qaida-linked groups as grounds for the sweeping operation.
Speaking in Belgrade, Serbia, Lavrov said an al-Qaida-linked group had blocked a proposal by Russia's military earlier this week to allow opposition fighters to leave eastern Ghouta in exchange for ending the government's offensive.
That contradicted an assertion by one of the largest rebel groups in eastern Ghouta, which said Russia refused to allow al-Qaida fighters to leave in November, and accused Moscow of wanting to keep the fighters there as a pretext for a comprehensive military campaign.
Russian news reports said Moscow had beefed up its forces in Syria with additional warplanes, including its latest fighter jets. The Kremlin would not comment on the reports, referring questions to the military, which has remained silent about the deployment.
Russia has rejected allegations that it is responsible for the mounting civilian casualties in eastern Ghouta, but anger against Russia has grown along with the death toll.
On Thursday, scores of protesters, including prominent Syrian opposition figures, gathered outside the Russian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, chanting, "Russia, get out of Syria" and "Iran, get out of Syria" in Turkish and Arabic.
Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions in the past seven years, has escalated in recent weeks as Assad and his allies push to retake remaining rebel-held areas in the country.
Turkey has also opened a new front against Syrian Kurdish fighters in the north, launching an air and ground offensive on the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin last month.
Hundreds of pro-Syrian government fighters entered Afrin this week as part of an agreement with the Kurdish militia, known as the YPG, to bolster resistance to Turkey's assault.
Hundreds of people gathered in Afrin's main square Thursday to celebrate the pro-government fighters' arrival. TV footage showed fighters in camouflage uniforms standing among scores of men in the square waving posters of Assad.
Turkish warplanes could be heard flying overhead, sending some people fleeing.
The pro-government daily Al-Watan said some 500 pro-government fighters had entered Afrin since Tuesday, taking positions along the region's borders.
A YPG spokesman, Nuri Mehmud, said the pro-government fighters brought in armored vehicles, but more was needed to withstand Turkey's military campaign.
"There needs to be a no-fly zone," Mehmud said. "The Syrian army must protect Syrian lands."
Turkey launched the operation to uproot the YPG from Afrin on Jan. 20, saying the group is linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside its own borders.
