BEIRUT: The top human rights official of the UN called the Syrian regime’s siege of the capital’s suburbs “an outrage” on Friday and said food and medical supplies must be allowed to reach civilians inside.
Residents of the Eastern Ghouta suburbs of Damascus are facing a “humanitarian emergency” as the price of food has skyrocketed in the region under siege, said Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein in a statement published by his office.
“The deliberate starvation of civilians as a method of warfare constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law,” the UN human rights chief said in the statement.
Photos of children gaunt from hunger drew renewed attention this week to the Ghouta suburbs, one of the hubs of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar Assad’s regime.
The regime routinely blocks the UN from delivering aid to areas opposed to its rule. The UN was last able to reach Eastern Ghouta a month ago, carrying supplies for only 25,000 people out of an estimated 350,000 in need.
The regime has blocked three quarters of the UN’s requests to deliver aid to besieged and hard-to-reach areas in Syria, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The Syrian regime’s backers Russia and Iran, as well as Turkey, brokered a truce in May to allow sorely needed humanitarian aid to reach Eastern Ghouta after nearly four years of siege and bombardment at the hands of government forces.
But the situation in the suburbs has deteriorated since government forces seized the Qaboun and Barzeh neighborhoods in northeastern Damascus, also in May. The two neighborhoods were the main points for smuggling supplies into the Ghouta region through tunnels.
Residents survive on smuggled goods, paying extortion prices to warlords and local traders who control the routes in and out of the enclave. Activists say two children have died of starvation in the last two months.
A kilogram of sugar costs $12 in the district while a kilogram of rice costs nearly $5, according to local opposition activist Ahmad Khansour. The average family’s monthly income is around $100, he said.
The regime has at times during the war held over a million of its citizens under siege to force rebellious areas to accept President Bashar Assad’s authority. Activists say the regime is forcing its opponents to “kneel or starve,” while the UN says starvation has become a weapon of war in Syria, saying it is a war crime.
But it has proven brutally effective, and the regime, acting largely with impunity, has found little reason to abandon its strategy. Pro-regime forces tightly restrict the entry of food and medicine into the besieged areas as residents endure months, sometimes years, of relentless ground and air attacks. The Syrian regime has depended on its key ally Russia to bomb these areas as well.
The Washington-based Siege Watch monitoring group said more than 800,000 people in Syria are still trapped in sieges, most set by the government and its allies.
The Eastern Ghouta suburbs were one of the first areas in the country to organize self-governing councils called Local Coordination Committees as an alternative to Assad rule, but their efforts have been largely erased by the scale of the violence that has washed over the country since 2011.
UN human rights chief says Syria siege ‘an outrage,’ demands aid access
UN human rights chief says Syria siege ‘an outrage,’ demands aid access
Iran foreign ministry affirms support for Syria’s sovereignty
- Assad fled Syria earlier this month as rebel forces led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) entered the capital Damascus
Tehran: Iran affirmed its support for Syria’s sovereignty on Monday, and said the country should not become “a haven for terrorism” after the fall of president Bashar Assad, a longtime Tehran ally.
“Our principled position on Syria is very clear: preserving the sovereignty and integrity of Syria and for the people of Syria to decide on its future without destructive foreign interference,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a weekly press briefing.
He added that the country should not “become a haven for terrorism,” saying such an outcome would have “repercussions” for countries in the region.
Assad fled Syria earlier this month as rebel forces led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) entered the capital Damascus after a lightning offensive.
The takeover by HTS — proscribed as a terrorist organization by many governments including the United States — has sparked concern, though the group has in recent years sought to moderate its image.
Headed by Ahmed Al-Sharaa, Syria’s new leader and an ardent opponent of Iran, the group has spoken out against the Islamic republic’s influence in Syria under Assad.
Tehran helped prop up Assad during Syria’s long civil war, providing him with military advisers.
During Monday’s press briefing, Baqaei said Iran had “no direct contact” with Syria’s new rulers.
Sharaa has received a host of foreign delegations since coming to power.
He met on Sunday with Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, and on Monday with Jordan’s top diplomat Ayman Safadi.
On Friday, the United States’ top diplomat for the Middle East Barbara Leaf held a meeting with Sharaa, later saying she expected Syria would completely end any role for Iran in its affairs.
A handful of European delegations have also visited in recent days.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which has long supported Syria’s opposition, is expected to send a delegation soon, according to Syria’s ambassador in Riyadh.
Iran says ‘no direct contact’ with Syria rulers
- Foreign ministry spokesman: ‘We have no direct contact with the ruling authority in Syria’
TEHRAN: Iran said Monday it had “no direct contact” with Syria’s new rulers after the fall of president Bashar Assad, a longtime Tehran ally.
“We have no direct contact with the ruling authority in Syria,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said at a weekly press briefing.
Jordan foreign minister holds talks with Syria’s new leader
- It was the first visit by a senior Jordanian official since Bashar Assad’s fall
AMMAN: Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi met with Syria’s new leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Damascus on Monday, Amman said, the latest high-profile visit since Bashar Assad’s ouster.
Images distributed by the Jordanian foreign ministry showed Safadi and Sharaa shaking hands, without offering further details about their meeting.
A foreign ministry statement earlier said that Safadi would meet with the new Syrian leader as well as with “several Syrian officials.”
It was the first visit by a senior Jordanian official since Assad’s fall.
Jordan, which borders Syria to the south, hosted a summit earlier this month where top Arab, Turkish, EU and US diplomats called for an inclusive and peaceful transition after years of civil war.
Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, has welcomed senior officials from a host of countries in the Middle East and beyond in recent days.
Jordanian government spokesman Mohamed Momani told reporters on Sunday that Amman “sides with the will of the brotherly Syrian people,” stressing the close ties between the two nations.
Momani said the kingdom would like to see security and stability restored in Syria, and supported “the unity of its territories.”
Stability in war-torn Syria was in Jordan’s interests, Momani said, and would “ensure security on its borders.”
Some Syrians who had fled the war since 2011 and sought refuge in Jordan have begun returning home, according to Jordanian authorities.
The interior ministry said Thursday that more than 7,000 Syrians had left, out of some 1.3 million refugees Amman says it has hosted.
According to the United Nations, 680,000 Syrian refugees were registered with it in Jordan.
Jordan in recent years has tightened border controls in a crackdown on drug and weapon smuggling along its 375-kilometer border with Syria.
One of the main drugs smuggled is the amphetamine-like stimulant captagon, for which there is huge demand in the oil-rich Gulf.
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill at least 20 people, Palestinian medics say
- Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry till date
Palestinian medics say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people.
One of the strikes overnight and into Monday hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children. That’s according to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.
Hospital records show another six killed in a strike on people securing an aid convoy and another two killed in a strike on a car in Muwasi. One person was killed in a separate strike in the area.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir Al-Balah said three bodies arrived after an airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas militant in the humanitarian zone.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.
