Aid groups call for full ceasefire in Syria

With the next round of talks on Syria's future due to officially begin in Geneva on Mar. 14 - five days later than originally planned - some of the largest responders to the humanitarian emergency there told a National Press Club Newsmaker March 3 that only an all-encompassing, long-term ceasefire can bring relief.

“Humanitarian assistance saves and sustains life, but it is not the solution to the Syria crisis," Neal Keny-Guyer, the CEO of Mercy Corps, which serves 570,000 people a month in Syria, said. "Ultimately, the solution is political. We now have a rare opening to potentially end this conflict. Let us seize this moment and walk together."

A "cessation of hostilities" deal agreed upon by the International Syria Support Group, which includes the U.S. and Russia, went into effect on Feb. 27 and was hailed as a sign of progress by aid groups.

The five-year-old Syrian conflict now stands as the worst humanitarian catastrophe since World War II. According to the UN, 6.5 million Syrians have been internally displaced, and more than 4 million have become refugees.

While airstrikes against ISIS do not fall under the deal, the country has seen a significant drop in the number of deaths, Raymond Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America said.

“We’ve seen a diminishing of fatalities” from an estimated 120 deaths per day to about 20, he said.

“There’s actually cautious optimism," about the talks, he added.

Until a prolonged ceasefire takes effect, "We risk losing a whole generation of Syrians through this conflict,” Offenheiser said.

Dr. Zaher Sahloul of the Syrian American Medical Society said the U.S. must pressure Iran and Russia to ensure the Syrian regime abides by the deal. Syrian rebels have already accused the government of violating the fragile ceasefire, and the White House admitted it is aware of the reports but has not verified them.

Sahloul, who was in Syria in January inspecting bombed-out hospitals, said only a full ceasefire would allow for aid deliveries to the most desperate areas in Idlib and Aleppo in northwest Syria, where 45 towns are under siege and children are starving, he said.

Aleppo in particular risks becoming “the next Srebrenica,” he added.

And as long as the situation in Syria is described as “complicated” in political circles, the discussion will be deflected, Sahloul said.

"It's not complicated. What’s complicated about people [being] put under siege and starved to death?”