Spokesman for the Syrian Coalition Salem al-Meslet commends the relief operations carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in the district of Mouadamiya in Rural Damascus, which has been subjected to crippling siege by regime forces since 2012.
He stresses the Assad regime has been using siege and starvation as a weapon of war and as a collective punishment against rebellious cities and towns.
He calls on the ICRC to enter the rest of the besieged areas across Syria, most importantly Eastern Ghouta, Al Waer district in Homs and Deir Ezzor to provide aid to the population, particularly now in the holy month of Ramadan.
The ICRC on Thursday described living conditions in Mouadamiya as dire after delivering aid there this week for the first time in six months.
The ICRC entered the town along with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and delivered medicines for chronic diseases to treat around 5,000 patients.
It also brought in medicines for children and medical equipment to help pregnant women during delivery. But it said around 40,000 people inside were still in urgent need of basic services including water and electricity.
“The humanitarian situation is desperate,” Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC in Syria, said in a statement. She said the streets were empty and shops shuttered in a town that has had no electricity for two years.
“There is virtually no water and food is hard to come by…There is virtually no access to proper health care.” (Source: Syrian Coalition)
