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Humanitarian aid delivery to East Ghouta disrupted by airstrikes, shelling — UN

As a result, 14 of the 46 trucks in the convoy were not able to fully offload critical humanitarian supplies

UN, March 6. /TASS/. A humanitarian aid delivery to the city of Douma in eastern Ghouta on March 5, was forced to be cut short "due to escalating violence and insecurity," the UN Secretary General’s spokesman told reporters on Tuesday.

"Yesterday, the UN and its partners’ mission to deliver assistance to people in Douma, in eastern Ghouta, was forced to be cut short due to escalating violence and insecurity. Airstrikes and shelling in Douma and shelling of Damascus continued for hours while the inter-agency convoy was delivering food for 27,500 people, in addition to health and nutrition supplies," spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"After nearly nine hours inside, the decision was made to leave for security reasons and to avoid jeopardizing the safety of humanitarian teams on the ground," he went on. "As a result, 14 of the 46 trucks in the convoy were not able to fully offload critical humanitarian supplies."

Of the 14 trucks, four were partially offloaded.

An aid convoy carrying 247 tonnes of humanitarian cargo from the United Nations, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived in eastern Ghouta on March 5, with the assistance of the Russian reconciliation center.

The next aid delivery to the besieged region is scheduled for March 8, a spokesman for the Russian Reconciliation Center for the Conflicting Sides in Syria, Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin said.