UN Delivers Aid to 35,000 Civilians in Syria’s Eastern Ghouta

UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric stated that the Uinted Nations delivered life-saving humanitarian assistance for 35,000 people in need in besieged Duma in Syria's eastern Ghouta.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — A humanitarian convoy backed by the United Nations and its partner organizations managed to reach people in Duma in eastern Ghouta with much-needed assistance, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Wednesday.

"Yesterday, a UN-International Committee of the Red Cross-Syrian Arab Red Crescent convoy delivered life-saving humanitarian assistance for 35,000 people in need in besieged Duma in eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus," Dujarric said. "The area was last reached on 19 October 2016."

The convoy brought wheat flour, food rations, nutrition and health supplies, education materials, clothes and other emergency items, Dujarric noted.

The spokesman also said that some surgical supplies, medicine and health equipment were removed or reduced in quantity before the convoy was loaded.

Dujarric emphasized that delivery of aid to eastern Ghouta shows that "when there is enough political will, security and access challenges can be overcome."

Earlier in the week, the United Nations voiced its concern about reports of intensified fighting between non-state groups in eastern Ghouta and the growing threat it poses to civilians.