i would like you to listen, valerie amos, to this we got earlier today. john jackson from the free syria campaign talking about what these lawyers have written. >> we know that the u.n. and it's agencies are doing an incredible amount of fantastic work within syria. the thing is they no longer need to wait for the regimes' permission. 35 of the world's best legal minds, judges, and professors of law said under international humanitarian law irrespective to the united nations security council resolution, the arbitratal denial, these people have been waiting long enough. they're struggling hard. they're struggling heroically to survive, and it's up to us to make bold decisions. >> i know your heart goes out to the people in this terrible situation, but what tease lawyers are saying the united nations can, indeed, must go in without the say so of the syrian government. >> well, the united nations is in syria. they medicine 4 million people. 8 million people are able to get safe drinking water because of the work of the united nations. i said to the security

there are a lot of heroes working for the united nations inside syria and john and valerie amos are doing their utmost. john has been a real fighter. in addition to the 1.7 million i mentioned there is additional money we are providing to local communities in areas where the syrian regime has lost control. these are in particular in the north and the northwest from central aleppo and a bit to the east where we are providing things like rescue equipment, where we are providing food and now we are paying salaries in some places for police and even teachers to sort of keep communities going. .. >> they are mainly located in the damascus suburbs, but there's other places where there's been an uptick in fighting over the last few days. this action blockading action conflict, this blockade absolutely contravenes the geneva convention. it's illegal. it's outrageous. i have to say, we have to be honest about it, it is a regime tactic of wariments the regime basically is doing this in sensitive areas which is trying to recapture. often, the places they try to retake are near highways or outside da

humanitarian coordinator, valerie amos, reports that the war of starvation has worsened since its passing. the number of syrians cut off from aid has grown since january by over 1 million people. the syrian government continues to prevent supplies of food from entering opposition-held areas in direct contravention of the u.n. resolution. and it is using u.s.-provided humanitarian aid as leverage in its war against the people. meanwhile, iran sends 30,000 tons of food supplies to assad's regime while children starve throughout syria, the government is at least well fed. although 800,000 people have not been slaughtered in mere months, as was the case in rwanda, over the course of three ear years of conflict in syria, we have witnessed 9 million people forced from their homes with 2 1/2 million refugees escaping the violence in neighboring countries. an estimated 150,000 people dead with casualties escalating dai daily. regardless of the scale or slope, one fact is clear -- the world is watching genocide in slow motion. but it seems that regardless of how many innocent men, women and childr

resolution calls for you and agencies to do the same, it was agreed to by the security council, and valerie amos' report showed that the syrian regime has not allowed for that terms that security council to be met at any reasonable scale. there has been a few convoys across the border that was done in coordination with the syrians, but that is a small and very incremental step given there are 3.5 million people that could be reached that are not being reached because of the terms of that resolution are not being implemented as aggressively as necessary by the regime. we are currently the main provider of cross-border assistance. that assistance has allowed us to provide surgeries and medical support to 250,000 injured syrians in the north and the south and places that other partners are not reaching. i want to say i want to recognize syrian-american doctors and other humanitarian actors who have risked their lives to do some extraordinary work in that context. we need to do more, we need the u.n. agencies to do more, and we need this syrian regime to abide what is in the resolution to allow for

doingnd valerie amos are their utmost. in addition to the 1.7 million dollars, there is additional money we are providing to areas where the syrian regime has lost control. this is the north and northwest, eppo, a bit to the east. we are providing rescue equipment, food, and now paying salaries for police and even teachers to keep communities going. in the end, as stated so eloquently said, the crisis is not getting better. the crisis is getting worse. the people in the refugee camps where other people are directing assistance. to me, they are the lucky ones. the ones that are really suffering and the ones i want to spend a couple minutes talking about are still inside syria and are under blockade. which i find outrageous. according to the latest u.n. estimates, the syrian government forces have under blockade approximately 175,000 civilians. 200,000down from about at the start of the year. they are mainly located in the damascus suburbs. there are some other places like homs where there has been an uptick in fighting over

and john and valerie amos are doing their utmost. john has been a real fighter. week, the americans come in addition to the 1.7 billion i mentioned there is additional money where providing to local communities in areas where the syrian regime has lost control. these are in particular in the north and the northwest, aleppo, added to the east where we are providing things like rescue equipment, where we are providing food, and now we are paying salaries in some places for police and even teachers to sort of keep communities going. but in the end, as david so eloquently said, the crisis is not getting better. the crisis is getting worse. and i mentioned the people in the refugee camps where we and other countries are directing assistance, to me, they are the lucky ones. they are the lucky ones. the ones that are really suffering and the ones i want to spend just a couple minutes talking about are still inside syria and under blockade, which i find simply outrageous. according to the latest you -- united nations estimate i've seen from the syrian government forces h

security council resolution was reviewed by valerie amos just a week ago, or two weeks ago, and she reported to the security council that in fact the assad regime had not lived up to the terms of the security council resolution in terms of greatly expanding access. second, we know there's specific pockets in communities inside of syria, roughly 220,000 people, that are held in besieged areas where literally the preventing food and water from reaching them is used as a tactic of war. that's in violation of every basic humanitarian principle. including how war should be conducted. so in this context, this is an extraordinarily difficult problem. the committee's work and your personal efforts to allow for more flexibility and food assistance have allowed us to reach so many more beneficiaries, women and children, especially in jordan and lebanon, that we simply couldn't truck american food to, but now they get a card that has usaid logo on it, it says from the american people, and our humanitarian leader just sat with a group of women in amman who said thank you so much for this card. it is wha