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Besieged Syrian town receives critical aid supplies: ICRC

Xinhua, February 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported Thursday that it had delivered lifesaving provisions to the besieged Syrian town of Moadamiyeh, south of Damascus.

Carried out in coordination with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), the operation provided over 12,000 people with essential food and hygiene supplies after humanitarian teams were granted access to the town of around 50,000 inhabitants on Wednesday.

Some 10,000 people also received medicines and other medical items after having waited for hours on the edge of the so called buffer zone separating warring parties.

"What we have seen on our way into town only shows how desperate the people are in Moadamiyeh," ICRC's head of delegation in Syria Marianne Gasser said.

"They are hungry and they need us. Unconditional aid must be allowed to reach people in all the besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria," she added.

Though the delivery of aid has come as a welcome respite for the town's desperate population, more deliveries need to take place so as to cater to the needs of all those living in the area.

The latest food supplies will only last three weeks, while medical provisions are enough to cover the next three months, ICRC indicated.

Discussions to bring more relief to the besieged towns of Madaya, Foua and Kafraya are ongoing, said ICRC, which has repeatedly called for continued and unimpeded access to all besieged areas and for all sieges to be lifted. Endit