TEMPO.CO, Damascus - A new siege at a refugee camp in Syria has left 12,000 people, including 3,000 children, running out of food and medicine as they endure shelling, barrel bombs and sniper fire, Save the Children said on Friday.
The international charity said the last remaining open road out of Khan Eshieh, a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, was shut this week by heavy shelling and sniper fire.
Save the Children said three youths were reportedly shot dead trying to escape the camp, while bombing has increased, with dozens of barrel bombs being dropped on the area.
News of the siege emerged as an aid convoy carrying medicine, vaccines and baby milk to Darayya – a suburb of Damascus that has been under siege for more than three years – was prevented from entering the town by elite troops loyal to the president Bashar al-Assad’s brother, Maher, even though the Syrian government had agreed to the deal.
There are more than a million people living under siege in Syria, the vast majority in blockades orchestrated by the Assad government. The blocking of the aid deliveries has raised further questions about the Syrian government’s commitment to allowing aid into besieged areas.
MAYA AYU PUSPITASARI | THE GUARDIAN
