Syrian government hampers aid delivery to quake-impacted areas
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syrian government forces have been hindering humanitarian aid deliveries to areas in northern Aleppo affected by the earthquakes since March 8.
The Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reported, citing the Relief Committee in the Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods of Aleppo that a checkpoint affiliated with the government forces has been hindering relief aid of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from crossing into the aforementioned neighborhoods for the past five days.
The aid contains children-related aid supplies and goods, according to ANHA.
Both Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods are semi-autonomous and run by a civil administration.
The two neighborhoods, in addition to IDP camps and villages in the northern countryside of Aleppo, house IDPs from Afrin who fled an invasion by the Turkish army and the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions in 2018.
On February 11, the Kurdish Red Crescent sent a second aid convoy to the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood in order to help with earthquake relief efforts.
However, the aid delivery was halted by government forces, who demanded half of all supplies, including one ambulance, in order to allow its passage into the earthquake-affected areas.