Diseases spread in besieged Hama’s countryside

Translation  by Yusra Ahmed

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Residents of besieged villages in the southern countryside of Hama have forwarded a message  to the office of the United Nation in Turkey, explaining their tragic living conditions in the villages of Harbanafsah, Talaf and Aqrab which are adjacent to many towns of the Northern countryside of Homs. 

Mohammed al-Shamali from the Turkmen village of  Talaf, one of signers on the message forwarded to the UN office enquired about the reason for not allocating any aid to them for two years, while the adjacent villages in the countryside of Homs have received two shipments of aid this year, while their villages have not considered for any aid and support like food basket and medical supplies. 

Al-Shamali confirmed that living conditions in their villages are tragic and extremely difficult due to the regime’s siege and lack of job opportunity for young men. He mentioned that diseases and epidemic have started to spread in their villages of 20 thousand people due to lack of clean drinking water and medications. 

In regard to the reason behind the dereliction  of the Hama branch of the Syrian  Red Crescent in delivering aid to the villages, Abo Hussein from Aqrab village told the correspondent of Zaman Al Wasl in Homs that the Red Crescent explained to them that residents of  regime-loyal villages  surrounding  them like Baarin, Kafr Kadah and Hamira have blocked the way and prevented the aid convoy from entering the besieged villages threatening of burning the vehicles even if they belonged to the United Nations.  

In a relevant content, Zaman Al Wasl obtained information about the exchange operation the Syrian Red Crescent has mediated to exchange  8 bodies of fighters from the North countryside of Homs were killed few days ago in the village of Ramliyah of the town of Salamiyah during re-controlling it by the regime forces, with bodies of many regime’s soldiers most of them from Salamiyah were killed in Zara and the barrier of train station a month ago.