Aid convoy enters besieged Ghouta
ISTANBUL: An aid convoy has begun to enter the besieged, rebel-held Syrian enclave of eastern Ghouta, two weeks into a renewed regime offensive that has killed more than 700 civilians.
The convoy of 46 trucks, sent by the International Committee for the Red Cross, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the United Nations, started to cross a final Syrian army checkpoint at al-wafideen on Monday morning, a witness told Reuters.
The aid delivery – the first in weeks – will offer a brief respite for some of the 400,000 residents of the enclave near the capital, Damascus, who have endured two weeks of intense violence despite a UN security council resolution last week demanding a ceasefire and the delivery of aid. The carnage has continued despite a daily five-hour truce ordered by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
The UN’S office for humanitarian affairs and the World Food Programme said Monday’s convoy to the town of Douma consisted of 46 truckloads of health and nutrition supplies, along with food for 27,500 people .
Doctors on the ground said 712 people had been killed and more than 5,600 wounded since 19 February.
The airstrikes and artillery bombardment have been coupled with a ground offensive by the regime of Bashar al-assad and his allied Shia militias, whose advances are aimed at splitting eastern Ghouta in half and cutting off rebel fighters.