Western powers have criticised President Bashar al-Assad’s government, accusing its forces of dropping barrel bombs on the Syrian town of Daraya just hours after it received its first food aid in nearly four years.
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A convoy carrying food aid entered a rebel-controlled area under regime siege in central Syria on Saturday, the Red Cross said, in the second such delivery there in months.
The Local Council of Daraya posted on social media on Friday that 28 barrel bombs had been dropped on the suburb since nine in the morning.
“And because of the bombings on the town, people are afraid to go out and gather in groups”.
Darayya, which had a population of 255,000 before the war, now has about 8,000 people, according to the city council.
He added that the food delivered so far would be “insufficient for all the residents under siege” but that he had been told more was on its way.
An opposition activist in the suburb alleged the government allowed in only minimal amounts of food in order to create conflict among the starving residents.
He said that WFP had delivered about 480 food rations that would feed around 2,400 individuals for a month.
Aid deliveries like this one are often delayed by the Assad government, which often uses bureaucratic red tape to stall aid workers.
According to the United Nations, almost 600,000 people are now living under siege in Syria.
“We did get the information today from one main source, but we would like to have more information, that some substantial number of (rebel) fighters appear to have been released”, de Mistura said. WFP food boxes included rice, lentils, chickpeas, beans, bulgur, oil, salt and sugar.
“The UN is able to deliver to 17 out of 19 besieged areas”, said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian office (OCHA).
The UN said Friday it was still awaiting approval from Syria’s government to reach two besieged areas, correcting information provided by the top envoy to the country.
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Amateur video online showed U.N. SUVs and white SARC trucks driving through sand barriers in the dark and met by opposition fighters.
