Saudi Arabia reiterated on Tuesday its deep concern over the ongoing escalation of Syrian regime attacks against the Eastern Ghouta enclave near Damascus and the ensuing civilian casualties. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired a cabinet session that called on the regime to stop the violence and allow relief and humanitarian aid into the area. It urged the regime to “seriously” consider a political solution to the crisis in accordance to the Geneva peace talks and United Nations Security Council resolution 2254. King Salman then informed the gatherers of the details of his telephone talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his meetings with visiting British Minister of State for the Middle East at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alistair Burt and Chief of the Defense Staff Stuart Peach. The cabinet, meeting in Riyadh, thanked King Salman for his sponsorship of the First Riyadh International Humanitarian Forumm on Monday, hailing the relief and development efforts exerted by the Kingdom. This embodies the Saudi leadership and people’s drive to ease the humanitarian suffering of affected societies, it said. The cabinet noted the series of promotions and appointments included in King Salman’s Royal Decree on Monday, with the monarch wishing officials success in their new duties in service of the nation and civilians. The government praised King Salman for also approving on Monday the document on the development of the Defense Ministry. Information Minister Dr. Awwad al-Awwad highlighted the Kingdom’s pledge of 100 million euros for counter-terrorism in the African Sahel region. Saudi Arabia had attended a meeting in Brussels last week that saw international donors pledge over 400 million euros for combating extremism in the Sahel.