Aid Convoy Enters Eastern Ghouta

A 25-truck aid convoy entered the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus on Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said, according to the Associated Press.

A World Food Programme spokeswoman said that food and nutritional items will be delivered to around 26,100 people, Reuters reported.

Hundreds of thousands of people trapped in Eastern Ghouta are in desperate need of food and medicine, Agence France-Presse reported. Their situation has been compounded by a fierce three-week-long government offensive that has split the opposition enclave into three encircled pockets and killed more than 1,220 civilians since February 18.

Earlier, on Wednesday, pro-government forces broke into the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta town of Hamuriyyeh and captured parts of the suburb, AFP stated, citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

According to the SOHR, at least 48 people were killed on Wednesday in airstrikes and artillery attacks on the last opposition holdout near the Syrian capital. Most of Wednesday’s casualties died in the attacks on Hamuriyyeh, which came under heavy bombardment by government forces.

Separately, at least 25 people in need of medical treatment exited Eastern Ghouta on Wednesday as part of a medical evacuation agreement between rebels and Russia, the BBC reported. Wednesday’s evacuations mark the second consecutive day in which patients and their families have left Eastern Ghouta under the agreement.

Russia said it expected another 100 civilians to leave the opposition enclave on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing the Interfax news agency.

At Least Seven Killed in Turkish Shelling on Afrin

At least seven people were killed on Wednesday in Turkish shelling on the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, the Associated Press reported.

The shells targeted the center of the district, which has been at the heart of an offensive launched by Turkish troops and allied rebels in January.

Beyond artillery attacks, Turkish forces have also cut water and power supplies from Afrin’s countryside, leading to severe shortages in the town, the AP said.

A resident of Afrin told the AP the region was also suffering severe bread shortages, with residents waiting in line for hours at bakeries.

U.N. Adviser Fears More Battles to Come in Syria

Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council and a senior U.N. adviser on Syria, expressed concern on Wednesday over future fighting in Syria’s remaining rebel strongholds, Reuters reported.

His comments come at a time when government forces are closing in on Eastern Ghouta.

“Our fear is that after Eastern Ghouta we may see tremendous battles now in and around Idlib (in the far northwest) and, in the south, Deraa [Daraa],” he told Reuters in an interview.

“It’s really not too late to have talks around Idlib, to have talks around Deraa, and to have talks around Afrin,” he said. “Idlib would be a tremendous concern because Idlib is in many ways a gigantic refugee camp.”

Egeland’s comments to Reuters come only days after Syrian government forces shelled rebel positions in the southern province of Daraa. The attacks have led to growing concerns among Western powers that the government will try to reclaim rebel-held parts of southern Syria after driving rebel forces from Eastern Ghouta.

Recommended Reads:

• Reuters: The Pain of Syrian Refugees: Parents Try to Forget as Children Cling to Lost Past
• Agence France-Presse: Syria Conflict Rages as War Enters Eighth Year
• The Atlantic: No One Is Winning the Syrian Civil War
• Los Angeles Times: Seven Years on in Syria: Nobody Seems Willing to Stop the Bloodshed
• The Globe and Mail: In Syria, Rock Bottom Has No Bottom at All