Alhoula Local Council Calls for Urgent International Action to Stop Regime Assault

The local council of Alhoula urged the international community to immediately exercise pressure on the Assad regime and Russia to stop the brutal aerial attacks targeting the area for three consecutive days. The council confirmed that at least 27 people were killed and around 112 were wounded in the continued attacks on the rebel-held area. Medical sources in the area said that field hospitals in the area could not deal with the high number of injuries, many of them in critical condition.

The council pointed out that most of the field hospitals in the area located north of Homs are severely under-equipped, and that they are a target for airstrikes by the Assad regime’s and Russia’s warplanes.

The council called upon the United Nations, civil society organizations, the Syrian opposition represented by the Syrian Coalition and the Syrian interim government to declare Alhoula a disaster area, stressing that the international community is directly responsible for stopping the carnage taking place in the area.

The council called upon the international community to intervene immediately in order to stop the regime’s systematic shelling of civilian homes and to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the area, most importantly medical supplies. The council also called for the urgent evacuation of severely wounded civilians.

Nearly 60,000 civilians are trapped in the area, which is under siege by regime forces.

Regime forces continue to brutally bombard the towns and villages in Alhoula area with jets and artillery for the third consecutive day.

Head of Homs provincial council Amir Abdul Qadir on Sunday sent a letter to the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien describing the situation in the district of Alwaer of Homs in terms of the status of basic and medical services as well as the humanitarian situation in the besieged district. 

Abdul Qadir pointed out that the Assad regime has prevented the entry of aid convoys to the district since March, causing an increase in the number of patients affected by malnutrition.

The letter reviewed the situation in the district under siege by regime forces for nearly four years. Nearly 100,000 people live in Alwaer. Regime checkpoints surrounding the district allow only university students and civil servants to leave the district, who run the risk of being arrested at regime checkpoints.

Two children have recently died in Alwaer due to lack of medicine. A woman and a man also died due to lack of the necessary dialysis equipment.

The letter included pictures of malnutritioned children and shed light on the psychological effects the siege causes in light of the lack of basic necessities such as clean water, electricity and basic services.

A number of civilians have been killed or wounded in shelling by regime forces on the district over the past few days. The provincial council in Homs issued a statement last week accusing the United Nations of failing to exercise pressure on the regime to lift the siege imposed on Alwaer.

Vice-president of the Syrian Coalition Muwaffaq Nyrabia earlier said that Russia’s policies in Syria are designed to put Syrians in front of two hard choices: either to accept Assad’s terms in the Geneva negotiations or the bombing and destruction of whole cities and vital civilian facilities will continue. (Source: Syrian Coalition)