Kurdish Red Crescent warns of humanitarian crisis in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods
HASAKAH, Syria (North Press) – The Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) warned on Saturday of a worsening humanitarian situation in the Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo, northwestern Syria, amid a severe shortage of medicines and the complete shutdown of hospitals.
Speaking to North Press, Hadiya Abdullah, co-chair of the KRC, said, “We are warning of a serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation inside Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo, especially Sheikh Maqsoud, due to an acute shortage of medicines and hospitals being forced out of service.”
Abdullah added that the Syrian transitional government had prevented a Kurdish Red Crescent medical convoy from entering the area to evacuate the wounded and recover the dead following deadly clashes.
She explained that the KRC had prepared a medical convoy consisting of 15 ambulances and around 40 medical staff, including doctors and nurses, in addition to large quantities of various medicines.
The convoy was intended to address the severe shortage at medical points in Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh, as the number of wounded has risen sharply, she added.
According to Abdullah, over the past four days the organization has attempted to open a humanitarian corridor to the Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo by contacting relevant authorities and institutions, and by sending official emails to pressure the Syrian transitional government to allow the convoy to enter and evacuate the wounded. “However, we have not received any official response,” she said.
She noted that dozens of people were wounded on the first day of the clashes, including four in critical condition.
Abdullah said coordination had initially taken place with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to evacuate the wounded from Sheikh Maqsoud to an agreed location for surgical treatment, “but we were later informed that the security situation did not allow it.” One of the wounded later died from his injuries the following day.
She added that the KRC convoy reached the Dayr Hafir area and again notified the relevant authorities of the need to open a humanitarian corridor, “but our request was rejected.”
Abdullah described the situation in Sheikh Maqsoud as “tragic in every sense of the word,” stressing that hospitals are completely out of service and that medicines are nearly nonexistent and insufficient to treat the wounded, due to a prolonged siege on the neighborhoods and the targeting of two hospitals that were subsequently forced to shut down.