A humanitarian convoy managed to deliver more aid to the besieged Syrian enclave of Eastern Ghouta on Friday despite getting caught up in mortar fire.
“Taken aback by renewed violence in Douma, Eastern Ghouta,” Robert Mardini, director of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), tweeted moments after the shelling began, in what was the second time the Syrian regime had broken a guarantee of safe passage.
The convoy of 13 trucks loaded with 2,400 food parcels was supposed to go into Eastern Ghouta on Thursday but the delivery was called off because of the intensive bombing.
Hadi al-Bahra, a member of the Syrian Negotiation Commission, an opposition umbrella group, said that some of the food that reached Eastern Ghouta had been spoiled by delays in getting through.
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Residents shared pictures of their small aid bundles, which included a kilo and half of rice, half a kilo of sugar, three tablespoons of butter and lentils for each family.
The deliveries have not been nearly enough for the roughly 380,000 in the pocket, leaving some – trapped in underground shelters and deprived of food and water – to decide whether to risk going out to seek supplies or staying inside.
The regime assault on Eastern Ghouta began on February 18 and has continued almost ceaselessly for nearly three weeks, killing some 1,000 people and injuring 3,000 more.
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The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that strikes had stopped in the early hours of Friday morning, giving residents their calmest night in some time. But not for long.
Photo by Mouneb Taim /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
"People were hopeful after the bombardment decreased and went out onto the streets,” Moayad al-Hafi, a man in the neighbourhood of Saqba. “But then air strikes began again, and there are still people under the rubble that we couldn’t get out.”
Ingy Sedky, a spokeswoman for the ICRC, said the group was hopeful they could make a larger aid delivery next week.
"We also have some positive indications that a bigger convoy with additional supplies including medical items might happen next week," she said.
Syrian regime troops and allied militias have captured several districts in the east of the opposition-held pocket and are moving to sever the last narrow corridor of territory connecting the northern and southern parts.
If Eastern Ghouta is divided in two by Bashar al-Assad’s troops it would leave the Failaq al-Rahman rebel group in control of the southern portion, along with several smaller factions, while the Jaish al-Islam would retain control of Douma and the northern area.
State media has reported people in Eastern Ghouta raising Syrian government flags and holding small protests in support of Assad and calling for an end to the fighting.