Regime forces prevented UN aid convoys from entering the district of Al-Waer in Homs until Saturday. The convoy was scheduled to enter the besieged district on Thursday.
The convoy is composed of 18 trucks loaded with 4,000 food baskets and hygiene kits out of 15,000 baskets the United Nations is set to deliver in batches. The second batch is scheduled to arrive next Monday, while the third and last batch two weeks later.
Nearly 14,000 families live in the district which has been under siege by regime forces for over three years.
Humanitarian aid was delivered to the district in late 2015 after a truce was reached between residents of the district and the Assad regime. However, regime forces breached the agreement in March 2016.
In the town of Talbeesa north of Homs, the second UN aid convoy entered the town on May 3rd, while regime forces in April targeted the first one with artillery shells, causing damage to one of the trucks.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the Assad regime “systematically removes medical supplies from humanitarian convoys.”
Speaking Tuesday at a UN Security Council meeting on the protection of civilians and health care in armed conflicts, Ki-moon added that the Assad regime “imposes cumbersome procedures that restrict access to healthcare. This is strangulation by red tape. It is violence by bureaucratic means rather than force of arms, but it is just as devastating.” (Source: Syrian Coalition + Smart News agency)
