Aid Convoy Reaches Eastern Ghouta

A humanitarian aid convoy reached the city of Douma in Eastern Ghouta on Friday after a one-day delay, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

An aid delivery to the besieged opposition-held enclave was postponed on Thursday because of intense violence in the area, but was able to enter the next day thanks to a reported overnight pause in fighting, according to Reuters.

Earlier this week, a 46-truck aid convoy reached the besieged city of Douma. The delivery on Monday was the first time the ICRC had been able to get aid to the area since Nov. 12 last year. However, that “convoy was only half unloaded,” Henrietta Fore, head of the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF, told Reuters. The Syrian government was said to have prevented 70 percent of supplies from reaching the area, including “all trauma, surgical, dialysis and insulin supplies,” the Associated Press reported.

Friday’s delivery was expected to contain “the remaining aid that wasn’t delivered during the previous convoy of March 5,” a spokeswoman for the ICRC, Ingy Sedky, said, adding “we also have some positive indications that a bigger convoy with additional supplies including medical items might happen next week.”

More than 1,000 people were killed in Eastern Ghouta between Feb. 18 and March 3, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported on Friday. According to data collected from 18 of the 20 MSF-supported medical facilities in the area, an additional 4,829 people were wounded in the same period.

Increase in Attacks on Healthcare Facilities

The World Health Organization has verified 67 attacks on healthcare facilities and workers in Syria in the first two months of 2018, nearly 40 of which occurred in February alone, according to a report released on Thursday.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) also said the next day that 15 of the 20 hospitals and clinics it supports in Eastern Ghouta “have been hit by bombing or shelling, with varying degrees of damage,” since Feb. 18.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, several medical facilities in Eastern Ghouta came under attack and were “put out of service,” including the Ghouta Central Hospital, Al Hakeem Maternity and Pediatric Center, Al Balsam Clinics, Al Amal Rehabilitation Center, Dar Al Shifaa Hospital, the Central Laboratory and all local humanitarian offices, according to the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM).

One doctor working in the town of Hammouria told the UOSSM that the wave of attacks have caused “a state of mass hysteria, as every building is being bombed one by one, wiping out the entire area. The area has turned into a ghost town as everyone in the area has been displaced and all medical facilities were attacked.”

Opposition Groups Clash for Control in Northwest

Friday marked the seventh consecutive day of clashes between major opposition groups vying for control in the countrysides of Aleppo and Idlib provinces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

Late last month, rebel groups Ahrar al-Sham and Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki announced they would merge to form Jabhat Tahrir Souria (JTS), in an attempt to seize territory controlled by the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Syria Direct reported.

Since fighting began on Feb. 20, at least 156 people have been killed in Idlib and Aleppo, including at least 94 members of HTS and 62 fighters from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki, Ahrar al-Sham and Suqour al-Sham rebel groups, according to the United Kingdom-based SOHR.

Recommended Reads:

• The New York Times: Russia’s Greatest Problem in Syria: Its Ally, President Assad
• The Washington Post: How to Help Syria’s Refugee Children
• UNHCR: Syria Conflict at 7 Years: ‘a Colossal Human Tragedy’
• Al Jazeera: Women of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta Tell of Life Under Siege
• The New Yorker: ‘It’s Raining Rockets’: Deadly New Syrian-Russian Assault Kills Hundreds in Eastern Ghouta