The humanitarian situation in parts of Syria, in particular in the De-Escalation Areas of Eastern Ghouta and Idlib, has deteriorated significantly over the past 8 weeks with hundreds of innocent victims, including many women and children. In particular, dozens of civilian died and hundreds were wounded in Eastern Ghouta on 19 February alone, making this day one of the deadliest since the district came under siege in 2013.  As a result of the tight siege, aid convoys have not been able to deliver much of the needed food and medical supplies, and overall access to the enclave remains insufficient. On February 14, a convoy’s deliveries reached only 2.6 percent of the estimated 272,500 people in need of humanitarian aid, according to Ali al-Za’tari, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Syria. In the  statement released on 20 February, HR/VP Mogherini stated that  ‘’the European Union calls on all parties to the conflict to take all necessary measures to ensure the decrease of violence, the protection of the Syrian people by respecting International Humanitarian Law, and urgent humanitarian access. There is no military solution to the conflict, we call on all parties to seriously engage in the UN-led political process.’’ Mogherini also stressed “the need to urgently make progress on the political track under UN auspices and to maintain the international engagement to solve the political and humanitarian situation in Syria was recalled by all the participants.”  In this respect, the EU will host a second Brussels Conference on 24-25 April, which will focus on humanitarian support and bolstering the UN-led political peace process in Geneva.