Regime forces once again blocked the entry of a UN aid convoy to the besieged Barada Aalley area in western rural Damascus on Wednesday, local activists said. The move is accompanied by intensified airstrikes by the Assad regime and Russian forces on the area to force residents to evacuate toward Idlib province.
Regime checkpoints surrounding the area have denied entry of the 48-truck aid convoy which was sent by the United Nations and escorted by teams of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The aid convoy contained foodstuffs as well as equipment and clothing for winter.
The aid convoy was stopped at the Rimal checkpoint. Regime forces claimed that the area “is not in need of humanitarian aid.”
The last UN aid convoy to enter the Barada Valley area, which is home to nearly 150,000 people, was in early July after long negotiations between the United Nations and the Assad regime. (Source: Syrian Office’s Media Office)