Desperate civilians in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta await first aid convoy in weeks – but regime forces offload 70 per cent of medical supplies from trucks
Many medical supplies including trauma kits were not allowed into Eastern Ghouta which is being pummelled by air raids, missiles, artillery and mortar fire
CRUEL Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has blocked 70 per cent of medical aid from a convoy to a besieged neighbourhood where thousands of sick, injured and famished families are trapped.
Desperate for food and medicine, civilians in Eastern Ghouta had been praying for relief today as a 46-truck convoy began entering the rebel stronghold - the first such shipment in months.
But then the Syrian government intervened.
Soldiers did not allow 70 per cent of the health supplies to be taken in.
Marwa Awad, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program in Damascus, said: "Consequently, three of the 46 trucks being sent to Duma today are close to empty.”
The area is home to some 400,000 people and has been under a crippling siege and daily bombardment for months.
More than 600 civilians have been killed in the last two weeks alone.
The many wounded and sick are being treated in makeshift hospitals - their horrifying ordeal made worse by a lack of medical equipment.
The UN's humanitarian office said the convoy with health and nutrition supplies, along with food for 27,500 people in need, did finally enter the town of Douma in besieged Eastern Ghouta.
It is the first shipment to enter the area under a so-called humanitarian pause.
The only other aid delivered to Eastern Ghouta so far this year was on February 14, when a convoy with aid for 7,200 people reached Nashabiyah, a smaller town in the region.
But yesterday Assad vowed to continue with the military offensive there, allowing only short breaks for civilians to leave their shelters and escape.
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Speaking to members of his muzzled press, Assad said: "There is no contradiction between the truce and the military operation."
But civilians in Eastern Ghouta would beg to differ as the slaughter of man, woman and children continues.
The daily pause was ordered last week by Russian President Vladimir Putin, a key ally of Assad.
It has been implemented with daily violations for the past week, but no civilians have left the encircled region because they fear the government forces.
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