Assad regime stealing relief aid

Assad regime didn’t only besiege Syrian cities and towns starving thousands of civilians living in those areas but it also blackmailed relief agencies and deceived them. Assad thugs stole food aid and sold them or gave them to Assad’s loyalists. 

The strange thing about this issue is the silence of those relief agencies about regime’s practices. In many cases aid convoys were prevented access to the besieged areas by regime checkpoints. 

In other cases only vaccines and simple medicine were allowed to enter besieged areas such as Madaya, Darayya and Muadamiyat al-Sham while local citizens were starved waiting for food. In some cases Assad regime shelled and bombarded women and children who were queuing for the aid to be allowed to enter. 

One of the horrific examples was when Assad militias blocked humanitarian mission to starving Darayya because it carried baby milk. However, some relief agencies in return blocked any information about Assad regime practices and abuse of relief aid. The pretext was that those relief agencies were getting along with regime’s practices in order to be able to enter some food aid to the besieged areas.

 One of the UN officials justified those practices by saying that history will prove whether they are right or wrong, adding that their goal was to allow food aid to enter to those starving areas. 

However, New York Times published a report showing that most of relief aid delivered by the UN end in the coastal region - Assad’s stronghold- The report also mentioned that more than 85% of food aid and 70 % of medical help were handed out in regime -dominated areas during the first three months of 2014.

US Secretary of State admitted that fact when he said in one of his press conferences that it “We call on Assad regime to, at least in a moment of cessation of hostilities, try to show some measure of decency, if that is even possible.” 

It is clear that the majority of relief agencies are avoiding any blame towards the regime by using a vague or very neutral language through which the main doer of such inhuman actions is concealed. Those practices by Assad regime are targeting anybody who may think of helping Syrian people through intimidation and arbitrary procedures. 

  

 Original material by Orient Net Arabic and Orient TV