The suffering of civilians in eastern Ghouta increases by the day as the Assad regime continues to shut down the Al-Wafideen crossing, denying over 90,000 families trapped inside access to essential supplies. Al-Wafideen crossing, which is a regime checkpoint located near the town of Douma in the region’s north, served as an outlet from which residents in eastern Ghouta brought the majority of their food and basic goods for nearly three years.
Local activists said that the airtight siege on eastern Ghouta led to a tenfold increase in the prices of basic commodities. Moreover, health services in the area continue to deteriorate as medicine for chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes as well as medicines for children all ran out.
Activists pointed out that the serum bags and first aid kits began to run out from field hospitals as a result of the siege being imposed by the Assad regime forces.
Damascus Provincial Council, relief organizations, owners of the local bakeries, and local councils called on the Assad regime and its backers to lift the crippling siege which affects civilians in the first place.
Rebel groups in eastern Ghouta called on Russia to put pressure on the Assad regime to allow the introduction of goods and lift the siege on unarmed civilians, especially as Russia is a guarantor of the agreements reached in the area.
The Syrian Coalition earlier said that the siege imposed by the Assad regime on rebel-held areas constitutes a “war crime” as it is aimed mainly at starving the civilian population and forcing them to surrender. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Department + Kulluna Shurakaa’)
