05 March 2018•Update: 05 March 2018
By Mohammad Misto
EASTERN GHOUTA, Syria/ANKARA, Turkey
Nine of the 46 UN trucks had to return without unloading their cargo in Syria's eastern Ghouta after the Bashar al-Assad regime ordered the convoy to leave the area, according to Anadolu Agency correspondent in the area.
Thirsty-seven trucks managed to unload their cargo.
A total of 46 UN aid convoy arrived in eastern Ghouta on Monday after a three-hour delay, again due to Bashar al-Assad regime attacks in the area.
The Assad regime earlier had denied access to the UN aid convoy into the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta on Monday.
Earlier, the 46-truck convoy reached a point near the area controlled by the regime, but was unable to get into the city of Duma, the correspondent said.
An official from the UN's Geneva office, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media, told Anadolu Agency the regime is preventing the entrance of many life-saving medical supplies to the area.
Eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb, has been under siege for the last five years and humanitarian access to the area, which is home to some 400,000 people, has been completely cut off.
In the past eight months, forces of the Assad regime have intensified their siege of Eastern Ghouta, making it nearly impossible for food or medicine to get into the district and leaving thousands of patients in need of treatment.
On Friday, UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa regional director Geert Cappelaere said they received approval from the Assad regime to dispatch humanitarian supplies for 180,000 civilians trapped in the area, particularly in Duma city.
On Feb. 24, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling for a 30-day cease-fire in Syria without delay.
Despite the UN cease-fire resolution, around 756 people have been killed in regime attacks in the besieged areas in the past two weeks, according to White Helmets civil defense agency.
* Bayram Altug, Anadolu Agency correspondent in Geneva contributed to the story.
