Press Release “Together to lift the siege of #DeirEzZor city” campaign
The 15th of April 2015
On the 13th of April 2015, the international committee of Red Cross in Damascus city -despite the huge pressures done by a lot of parties on the Syrian government- was able to get a cargo of relief supplies (food) through to the besieged areas inside Deir Ez-Zor city which are under the regime’s control through an air-bridge from Damascus city to Deir Ez-Zor city’s airport, which enforces the idea that the regime is cooperating in the imposed blockade on those neighborhoods, and it’s able to “smuggle” necessary supplies whenever it can to end the suffering of the civilians.
The campaign applauds the efforts of the international delegation of the Red Cross, commends and thanks the volunteers of SARC (Syrian Arab Red Crescent) in Deir Ez-Zor who supervised the distribution process inside the besieged neighborhoods.
The campaign considers what has happened insufficient and demands the Red Cross delegation in Damascus to continue pressuring the Syrian regime in an attempt to stretch an air-bridge to provide the necessary and vital materials to the besieged areas. The campaign demands that the Red Cross delegation starts supervising and distributing the supplies to prevent the Syrian security forces from humiliating civilians and controlling the distribution procedures as well as prevent them from taking some food supplies (Like what has happened previously) and distributing them on its members and the members of the national army, or sell them afterwards with really high prices.
The campaign asks the UN to take its full legal responsibilities of the civilians’ protection as well as pressure the Syrian regime to open the road between Damascus and Deir Ez-Zor in addition to lifting the blockade/besieging imposed on the other areas of Deir Ez-Zor city.
The campaign alerts from the regime’s intentions of ISIS exploiting the imposed blockade for political reasons so that the regime would look like the victim in front of the international community, a victim of radicalization and terrorism. The campaign ensures that the Syrian regime and ISIS don’t value regulations and international customs, which can alert of catastrophic effects on civilians living inside the besieged neighborhoods.
And we ask the free people and the international organizations to work together, hand in hand with the campaign in order to ease the suffering of more than 300 thousand civilians (half of them are women and children) and to prevent the occurrence of a humanitarian tragedy whose circumstances and effects can’t be overcome; and we’ll regret it when regret can’t do us any good.
