Syrian government prevents wheat trucks from entering Kurdish areas in Aleppo
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syrian government forces prevented trucks loaded with wheat coming from the areas of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) from crossing to Aleppo governorate on Thursday.
Pictures circulated by activists on social media showed dozens of trucks loaded with wheat waiting to cross at the Tabqa crossing, west of Raqqa, which connects the AANES areas with Syrian government-held areas.
“Government forces prevent the passage of wheat to the Sheikh Meqsoud neighborhood in Aleppo city and the northern countryside of Aleppo,” Salman Barudo, the co-chair of the Economic and Agricultural Board of AANES, told North Press.
“The Fourth Division, which controls the crossing, is the one who prevents the passage of the trucks,” Barudo added.
He pointed out that the Fourth Division does not prevent the passage of trucks heading to other Syrian governorates, but it blocks and prevents the passage of the materials to the Sheikh Meqsoud neighborhood and northern countryside of Aleppo, where those displaced by the Turkish invasion of Afrin in 2018 reside.
The Fourth Division is one of the most important formations of the Syrian government army, and its main task is to protect Damascus, the capital, though it has also been used in offensive missions in the Syrian war.