Aid Delivered to Eastern Ghouta as Air Strikes Resume

  • 3/9/2018
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An emergency aid convoy crossed front lines into Damascus embattled rebel-held suburbs of eastern Ghouta on Friday, Red Cross officials said, but air strikes resumed in the area after a brief overnight stop. The International Committee of the Red Cross said the convoy passed through front lines and was heading to the enclaves biggest town, Douma. But the UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria, Ali al-Zaatari, said the renewed shelling is putting the convoy at risk. He said the shelling was in breach of "assurances of safety from parties including the Russian Federation." In less than two weeks, the Syrian regime has retaken nearly all the farmland in eastern Ghouta under cover of near ceaseless shelling and air strikes, leaving only a dense sprawl of towns - about half the territory - still under insurgent control. The onslaught has killed more than 1,000 people, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Friday gave a death toll of 931 civilians in the campaign. For eastern Ghoutas civilians, trapped in underground shelters but deprived of food and water, there is a constant dilemma - whether to seek supplies or stay inside. "People were hopeful after the bombardment decreased and went out onto the streets. But then air strikes began again, and there are still people under the rubble that we couldnt get out," said Moayad, a man in the town of Saqba. Medical facilities have been hit in air strikes, adding to shortages of equipment that have made it harder to treat the wounded. On Friday the World Health Organization said attacks on medical facilities in Syria were on the rise. The Observatory said there had been no air strikes on eastern Ghoutas towns overnight for the first time since the regime ground offensive began around 10 days ago, and there were only intermittent clashes along front lines. But soon after the convoy of 13 trucks, including food parcels for 12,000 people, crossed into eastern Ghouta, the Observatory and a witness in Douma said air strikes had resumed. The delivery consists of the remaining aid that was not offloaded during a humanitarian aid mission to the enclave on Monday which was cut short because of deteriorating security.

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