Russian Federation started its “humanitarian pause” in Syria’s eastern region of Ghouta on Tuesday, but new fighting erupted and there were no signs of civilians leaving the besieged area or aid deliveries arriving.
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Humanitarian teams are also preparing medical supplies for delivery next week, though “that remains to be seen”, said ICRC spokeswoman Iolanda Jaquemet.
The Britain-based Observatory, which monitors the Syria war through a network of activists on the ground, also reported that dozens of people from the town of Hammouriyeh in eastern Ghouta staged a demonstration holding Syrian flags and calling for the end to the fighting in the area. The area is now mostly rubble, and few of its original residents remain.
Syria’s official news agency, SANA, reported that Hasan Ali Badran died on Thursday as Syrian troopers and their allies were engaged in fierce clashes against members of the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham Takfiri terrorist group, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, in the besieged area.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today releases medical data collected from the hospitals and clinics it supports in Syria’s besieged East Ghouta enclave.
The food was supposed to be delivered on Monday when another aid convoy entered Douma, but fighting forced it to leave early without unloading everything.
On Monday, the United Nations failed to unload 14 out of 46 trucks bringing humanitarian aid to the besieged district due to escalating violence.
In a thunderous assault, the Syrian army all but sliced the rebel-held enclave of Ghouta in two Thursday, pushing the death toll to more than 900 since the onslaught began last month and stalling the delivery of food and desperately needed medical supplies.
“We continue to call on all parties to immediately allow safe and unimpeded access for further convoys to deliver critical supplies”, it said. “Everything has been used up, and Ghouta has nothing”.
But with bombardment continuing, a joint convoy between the United Nations, International Committee of the Red Cross and Syrian Arab Red Crescent planned for Thursday could not go through.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged all parties to abide by a 30-day cease-fire ordered by the Security Council on February 24 to allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians in desperate need. Syria Direct could not independently verify Mahmoud’s account.
It said victims were suffering from shortness of breath, wheezing, and redness of the eyes.
“Local residents helped first response treatment by washing [affected residents] with soap and water”, the nurse added. Damascus and Moscow have accused rebels of planning to orchestrate poison gas attacks in order to accuse Damascus of using banned weapons.
In the two weeks between the evening of 18 February to the evening of 3 March 2018, the medical data reveals 4,829 wounded and 1,005 dead – or 344 wounded and 71 dead per day.
In many cases, rebel enclaves have surrendered to the government in deals that allowed insurgents and their families, along with any other civilians who did not wish to stay under Assad’s rule, to depart for other opposition areas.
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Several photos and a videoposted by the Syrian Civil Defense and pro-opposition media outlets appear to show the trails of incendiary munitions falling on Hamouriyah.
