Syrian government besieges again 2 neighborhoods in Aleppo
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – Residents of Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods, in Aleppo, northern Syria, have been suffering from power outage for the ninth day in a row, due to a siege imposed by Syrian government forces, as the latter prevents entry of diesel to the area.
Since 27th of December, electricity generators have stopped working due to lack of diesel, saving the remaining quantities to operate hospitals and bakeries.
Local sources from the neighborhoods told North Press that “due to the siege, work in factories has been suspended.”
“Feeding hours of the subsidized power do not exceed one hour per day which does not meet the needs of factories and industrial workshops, and it does not even light up houses at night,” according to the sources.
Residents of Sheikh Maqsoud fear the siege causes hospitals and bakeries to stop and some kinds of medicine to be unavailable.
Since 2013, the Syrian government forces have besieged the aforementioned neighborhoods intermittently.
In March, the Fourth Armored Division of the government forces denied the entry of foodstuff to the neighborhoods for 46 days, causing a great foodstuff crisis.
Both Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods are semi-autonomous and run by a civil administration.
The two neighborhoods, in addition to the IDPs camps and villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo are housing the IDPs of Afrin who fled the violations and the invasion of the Turkish army and the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions since their control of Afrin in 2018.
The Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh have become a safe haven for many people from both inside and outside the city of Aleppo. This has led to the activation of trade and industrial movement, but the Syrian government besiege them frequently.
Also, both Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh enjoy security and stability better than that of the other neighborhoods in Aleppo, which made them to be a target of the armed opposition factions several times.
The neighborhoods are separated from the other neighborhoods in Aleppo by three government security checkpoints; Ashrafiyeh, Awared, and Maghsalat al-Jazira.