24 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The NGO Amnesty International (AI) has asked the Syrian government of Bashar al Assad to lift the “brutal” blockade on the civilian population in the predominantly Kurdish areas of Aleppo, in the north of the country, devastated by the 2011 war.
“Since the government imposed the blockade in August, tens of thousands of civilians, including internally displaced people, have faced severe shortages of fuel and humanitarian aid. Medical supplies are practically depleted and the population burns household utensils and plastic to treat to warm up in the freezing temperatures,” he denounced in a statement.
Syria researcher at AI’s regional office in Beirut, Diana Semaan, has stated that the Syrian government “has an obligation under international law to ensure access to adequate food, medicine and other essential supplies.”
“It is abhorrent to see the Syrian authorities deprive tens of thousands of Aleppo residents of essential supplies for political reasons. Civilians live in constant fear, deprivation and uncertainty and are, once again, paying the ultimate price for this seemingly conflict endless,” he stressed.
Specifically, among the affected areas are Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafie, in northern Aleppo, as well as more than 50 towns in Shahba, under the Kurdish Civil Council, affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
As different residents explained to AI, last year Syrian government forces intermittently restricted the entry of fuel and flour to all these areas, while the last blockade lasted more than a month in April 2022.
In the case of the current situation, the residents affirmed that the blockade in the region coincides with the apparent diplomatic rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara, which “firmly” oppose the AANES government in northeast Syria.
AI, which has interviewed seven displaced residents or internals, reports that, due to fuel restrictions, different districts only have two hours of electricity a day compared to the seven they had before the blockade.
This leaves an open door for smuggling routes in Sheikh Maqsoud and Shahba where fuel is traded “at exorbitant prices”. The blockade could also leave essential services, such as hospitals or bakeries, without electricity.
“We are very concerned that we will run out of fuel to run the hospital generator. The problem is that we cannot cut off the electricity in certain parts of the building, such as the intensive care unit, the operating room and the emergency room, so we need to have electricity 24 hours a day,” warns a doctor who works in Shahba.
AI, which has examined satellite images of various highway checkpoints that have been increased by 2022, warns that residents complain about not having stocks of essential medicines in hospitals.
