Damascus’ Moadamiyeh Local Council: UN assists Assad regime, ignores suffering of civilians

In confirmation of the recent allegations against the United Nations’ offices in Syria regarding their turning a blind a eye to the Assad regime and Hezbollah’s Militias siege and starvation of civilians in a number of Syrian cities and towns:

We in Moadamiat Al Shaam confirm these allegations and add to them that the United Nations is not only turning a blind eye to these crimes but is also assisting the Assad regime by ignoring the suffering of the civilians as a result of such sieges and does not intervene until the civilians are at the brink of death. In such a situation the United Nations is put in an embarrassing situation and its humanitarianism is brought into question due to the widespread availability of shocking pictures and videos of death, starvation, and skeletons.

For such reasons the Local Council in Moadamiat Al Shaam confirms the United Nations’ bowing to the Assad regime and following its orders having not entered the city except on particular occasions during the so called two year “truce”. In fact, the majority of assistance brought into the city went to the “eastern neighborhood” which has a majority Alawite population, is located on the edge of Moadamiat Al Shaam and is under Assad regime control. Humanitarian aid was delivered only to this neighborhood at the request of the Assad regime with full compliance by the United Nations and at the same forcing residents of the city out of their neighborhoods into the “eastern neighborhood” following the humanitarian aid, essentially pushing them into direct confrontation and humiliation at the hands of Assad supporters.

The United Nations would force the residents of Moadamiat Al Shaam to go to the eastern part of the city, which is 2 - 3 km away, and thus putting them in direct danger in the face of death. Under the pressures of hunger, sickness, and desperation for anything they could acquire the people of Moadamait Al Shaam made the journey to the “eastern neighborhood” despite their being faced with insults, verbal abuse and other types of unethical practices. Also, the Assad regime used this opportunity to create lists of families who came to receive the humanitarian assistance and then used those names to steal aid later on.

Accordingly, we the citizens of Moadamiat Al Shaam, through the Local Council of Moadamiat Al Shaam, demand that the United Nations and other international aid organizations enter the city (the Town Hall building or Masjid Al Zaytouna specifically, not the “eastern neighborhood”) and fulfill their legal and humanitarian responsibility to the residents of Moadamiat Al Shaam. This is especially important considering that death has overtaken 7 of its residents in the past few days alone due to starvation, malnutrition, lack of medicines, and the inability of residents to leave the city due to the ongoing siege.

Finally, we want to make clear that what is coming is a humanitarian disaster if the United Nations continues to obey they Assad regime and ignore the voices coming from the city where tens of residents are currently suffering from malnutrition in the field hospital.