Syrian regime stalls aid convoys headed to besieged cities

[Sally]

So many people are counting on getting aid as they are starving.


Syrian regime stalls aid convoys headed to besieged cities


Published March 23rd, 2016 - 18:00 GMT via SyndiGate.info

A convoy of aid trucks in Damascus, Syria. (AFP/File)
Follow >
Homs
,
Jan Egeland
,
UN Office in Geneva
,
United Nations
The Syrian regime withheld the green light from an UN aid convoy seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Douma and Darayya, UN humanitarian advisor Jan Egeland said on Wednesday.

"We do not have permission to go six besieged areas. We got verbal assurances (from the regime) last night and this morning... Three or four of these six areas will be covered," Egeland told reporters at the UN Office in Geneva on Wednesday.

Egeland said they would be able to deliver humanitarian aid to 15 or 16 out of 18 besieged towns in Syria, while Daraya and Douma are still waiting for permission from the regime to be able to receive UN humanitarian aid.

Continue reading at:

Syrian regime stalls aid convoys headed to besieged cities

 

[tinydancer]

So out of eighteen towns the UN are only waiting for permission for two. Not bad.

 

[Sally]

So out of eighteen towns the UN are only waiting for permission for two. Not bad.[/QU

Tiny Dancer is going to volunteer to tell the unfortunate people who are hungry and in need of medical care that it is OK since the other groups got their aid. I wonder how many people in the group who are being overlooked have a condition such as diabetes and need their insulin? How many could have a serious heart condition and are running out of medicine?

 

[waltky]

Syrian town in 'extremely dire' state...

Syria: Humanitarian situation in Daraya 'extremely dire' - UN
Tue, 26 Apr 2016 - UN aid officials warn that situation in Syrian town of Daraya is extremely dire, with shortages of food, medicine, and clean water.

UN aid officials have warned that the situation in the Syrian town of Daraya is extremely dire, with shortages of food, medicine, and clean water. At least 4,000 people are besieged in the town by Syrian government forces. Speaking in Geneva, UN emergency relief coordinator Stephen O'Brien said the Syrian government had ignored "countless" requests for aid to be allowed in. Residents of the town last received a delivery of aid in November 2012. UN officials were able to make a needs assessment earlier this month, and found a severe lack of food and medicine and near complete destruction of the water supply, leading to shortages of safe drinking water.

A Syrian boy receives medical treatment at a field hospital in the southern Syrian city of Daraya after he was hit in the head by shrapnel following a strike by a government forces' missile on the rebel-held part of the city​

The town's electricity supply was cut off more than three years ago. "We will continue to press the Syrian authorities relentlessly for us to have that safe unimpeded access to Daraya," Mr O'Brien said. The UN says Syria's shaky cessation of hostilities has allowed significant aid to 12 of 18 other besieged areas, the most recent being this week to the northern town of Rastan, whose 120,000 people had received no aid for over a year. Almost half a million people live under siege in Syria, the UN estimates.

Last week, relief agencies evacuated 500 wounded people from four besieged Syrian towns, in what has been described as the largest such operation so far in the five-year conflict. Half were brought out from towns blockaded by pro-government forces, and half from towns blocked off by rebels. Meanwhile, peace talks that restarted in Geneva earlier this month are in difficulty. It is not clear whether a partial truce that has so far lasted eight weeks will hold. Opposition representatives walked out of the talks last week, blaming government violations of the ceasefire.

Syria: Humanitarian situation in Daraya 'extremely dire' - UN - BBC News