AL-MOADDAMYEH, Syria (CCTV/Reuters) — Around 100 trucks with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent on Wednesday entered five besieged areas in Syria to deliver much-needed food and medicine to civilians.
The areas receiving the relief aid are the Damascus suburb of al-Moaddamyeh, as well as al Fouaa, Kafraya, al-Zabadani and Madaya. It is the first time that the Arab Red Crescent has delivered large amounts of relief supplies to the five besieged areas in one day.
Thirty-five trucks arrived in al-Moaddamyeh, which has a population of 45,000, at 17:30 Wednesday.
Moneer Shaaban, an executive member of the Damascus Countryside Governate, believes the aid comes from the efforts of the Syrian government and not from the United Nations peace envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who said on Tuesday that a wider range of humanitarian aid to the besieged country will start on Wednesday.
“This is the Syrian government’s planned aid campaign, and has nothing to do with external forces. If the Syrian government refuses to assist, no one else is able to conduct any aid efforts. The Syrian government is like a mother,” said Shaaban.
Yacoub El Hillo, UN humanitarian coordinator in Syria, said he hopes the aid will continue until the siege is lifted.
“We hope such operations and efforts will continue, not only because the temporary influence of the Munich meeting. Those operations need to be carried out always. The core of our attempts to solve the problem, which has been stated repeatedly, is to lift the siege of all areas,” said El Hillo.
