Besieged eastern Ghouta region has been in dire need of humanitarian assistance. For the first time aid trucks have reached there but the Syrian government stripped some medical supplies from the convoy, continued with its air raids and ground assaults.
The Syrian army, backed by Russian firepower has captured more than a third of eastern Ghouta recently. The last major rebel-held area near the capital Damascus is under threats to be sliced into two, irrespective of Western criticism of violating the ceasefire.
Some 400,000 people are reported to be trapped by the UN inside the embattled enclave, have been running out of basic amenities and medical supplies, two weeks before the intense air raids even began.
An official for the World Health Organization, says the government has ordered 70 percent of medical supplies to be taken out of the convoy, surgical and trauma kits removed, insulin and other vital material from reaching the area. The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed medical equipment has also been blocked, without giving any details.
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said raids targeted neighboring towns of Harasta and villages of Bei Sawa, Hosh al-Ashari.
On Sunday, President Assad vowed to continue with his military push into eastern Ghouta, a populated farmland region just outside of Damascus, encircled by government forces since 2013. Assad and his allies see the rebel groups controlling eastern Ghouta as terrorists, brushing off a UN Security Council resolution demanding a nationwide ceasefire not to be applicable to them.
Russia announced a unilateral five-hour daily pause a week ago, but clashes have purportedly continued during those hours. Western countries have collectively dismissed them as not adequate.
Neba Benson,
BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst
