The local council in the Marj area in eastern Ghouta in Rural Damascus appealed to the United Nations and UNICEF to provide food, medical and educational assistance to the displaced people inside the besieged area, warning of a humanitarian disaster.
The council said that the area of Marj contains more than 29 towns and villages. It noted that out of the pre-war population of about 200,000, only 41,000 people still live in these towns and villages. The council stressed that attacks by the regime forces on the eastern parts of Marj have forced hundreds of families to leave their homes.
In addition to the mass forced displacement of the local population and the use of chemical weapons and other internationally prohibited weapons, the Assad regime has blocked the entry of UN aid convoys for more than four years.
Assad’s forces have laid suffocating siege on eastern Ghouta for several years. They have recently launched a military campaign centered around the Marj area. Many people are now homeless and seek shelter in car wreckage after being displaced by the Assad regime’s assault on the area.
The council called on the UN Security Council and the international community to take action to stop the Assad regime’s war against the Syrian people killing hundreds of thousands of Syrians and displaced millions more. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Agencies)