Aid convoy enters Syria enclave even as regime presses new offensive

A UN convoy entered Syria’s Eastern Ghouta on Monday to deliver muchneeded aid as regime forces seized more ground in a fierce offensive to retake the battered rebel enclave.

The United Nations said 46 trucks had entered Eastern Ghouta and were headed for the main town of Douma, in the first aid delivery since the start of the regime assault last month.

The aid arrived after fresh air strikes hit Eastern Ghouta and regime troops were reported to have retaken a third of the enclave in a rapidly advancing offensive.

Western powers have piled pressure on Damascus and its Russian ally to end the offensive on Eastern Ghouta, but President Bashar al-Assad warned there would be no letup.

Over the years, Eastern Ghouta’s estimated 400,000 inhabitants have depended for their survival on smuggling, local farm and rare aid deliveries.

Monday’s convoy was delivering “health and nutrition supplies, along with food for 27,500 people in need,” the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) in Syria said.

The UN has said it has approval to deliver aid to a total of 70,000 people among the most needy in Eastern Ghouta.

The US issued a statement Sunday condemning the assault and accusing Moscow of ignoring a UN resolution calling for a 30-day cessation of hostilities. It said Russia has killed “innocent civilians under the false auspices of counterterrorism operations.”

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May said Russia and Syria were responsible for “heart-breaking human suffering” in Eastern Ghouta.

Moscow has offered safe passage to non-combatants wishing to leave Eastern Ghouta during daily “humanitarian pauses,” but no Syrian civilians have left the enclave since the first break in fighting took effect on Tuesday, the Observatory says.

Damascus and Moscow have accused rebels of preventing civilians from leaving to use them as human shields.

In remarks broadcast on state television on Sunday, Assad said his forces would push forward with the offensive.