URGENT: FSA EMBARGO HAS ALEPPO ON ITS KNEES

The Vatican press agency Fides interviews Franciscan fathers in Aleppo who confirm the extreme situation due to the siege made by armed groups who don’t allow food and  medicines to pass and who threaten to cut off water to the areas under the control of the government.
Ad Aleppo un embargo alimentare: la carestia alle porte, “manca il pane”
Aleppo (Agenzia Fides) – Un blocco delle forniture e delle merci, anche dei cibi, un vero e proprio “embargo alimentare”, sta strozzando la popolazione civile di Aleppo. Il blocco, giunto al settimo giorno, è stato imposto dai gruppi ribelli che controllano la zona Nordest della città che ora minacciano anche l’interruzione dell’approvvigionamento di acqua. I “ribelli” sono frastagliati in numerosi gruppi e fazioni, alcuni islamismi e jihadisti come “Jubhat al nosra”, “Liwaa al tawhid”, “Aasifat al shimal”, “Souqqour al shahba” e altre, in cui si arruolano guerriglieri da Afghanistan, Libia, Caucaso, dalle Repubbliche ex sovietiche dell’Asia Centrale e da altri paesi. La città resta spaccata in due, parte sotto controllo dell’esercito (il Sudest) e metà sotto controllo dei gruppi armati (Nordest). E’ stata trasformata in un “campo di battaglia”, con grave danno per la popolazione civile, di ogni etnia e religione, e vede distrutto il suo prezioso patrimonio storico-culturale.
Fra Bernard, uno dei cinque frati francescani rimasti in città, nel convento di San Francesco, spiega a Fides: “La carestia è alle porte. La gente ha pura, è ridotta in povertà e piange. Facciamo il possibile per aiutare famiglie e profughi. I quartieri cristiani sono nel bel mezzo fra l’area controllata dall’esercito e quella dei gruppi armati. La sofferenza della popolazione civile, di ogni religione, è immane. Il blocco del cibo è contro ogni basilare diritto umanitario. La gente fa fatica anche a procurarsi il pane”.
I ribelli hanno preso il controllo della strada che collega Aleppo ad Hama, ingresso da cui transita la maggior parte delle merci dirette in città. Nell’area vi sono stati nei giorni scorsi violenti scontri militari. Intanto i rifornimenti alimentari sono scarsi e i prezzi sono saliti alle stelle. I prodotti vegetali sono introvabili, perché agli agricoltori viene impedito di entrare nei quartieri occidentali di Aleppo. “Ad Aleppo, se il blocco continua, si avvicina una crisi umanitaria”, ammonisce Fra Bernard.
Muhammad M., musulmano sunnita, docente all’Università di Aleppo, commenta a Fides: “I belligeranti devono spiegarci perché l’uccisione di innocenti e la distruzione delle infrastrutture di civili. Perché una battaglia nelle aree residenziali della città? Da secoli non si vedeva questa distruzione”. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 11/7/2013)

http://www.fides.org/it/news/53157-ASIA_SIRIA_Ad_Aleppo_un_embargo_alimentare_la_carestia_alle_porte_manca_il_pane
Even Al Arabya confirms:

Syria activists protest rebel siege of Aleppo districts

Rebel fighters gather around a former Syrian regime army tank in preparation to attack positions held by the Syrian army in areas in the Salaheddine neighborhood of Aleppo, on July 8, 2013. (AFP)

AFP, Beirut 

Syrian activists in Aleppo have staged protests calling for the lifting of a rebel siege of regime-held districts that has created food shortages, an NGO said on Wednesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the first demonstration calling for the siege to be lifted came on Tuesday, adding that a demonstrator was shot dead during the protest. 

The watchdog group said it was unclear who had shot the demonstrator, but added that protesters took to the streets in the northern Syrian city again on Wednesday.
A video of Tuesday’s protest posted by the Observatory on Wednesday showed a small group of youths chanting “the people want to break the siege.” 

Suddenly, four men in black t-shirts, including one armed with a handgun, start pushing the protesters back. The sound of gunfire can be heard, but it is unclear where the shooting comes from. 

Rebel forces have imposed a siege on several regime-controlled neighborhoods, where government forces have not been able to deliver food. 

The blockade has created food shortages in their neighborhoods and pushed up prices just as Syrian Muslims begin the fasting month of Ramadan. 

Another video posted by the Observatory showed that the siege policy has a variety of opponents among the opposition. 

The footage shows a woman accompanied by her child trying to cross into regime-held Ashrafiyeh with a pram full of shopping bags. 

“I came to buy food. We have nothing, our children are dying of hunger. My son is sick and needs medicine and to eat,” the woman pleads with a rebel fighter armed with a Kalashnikov. 

Her plea sparks an exchange between two rebels, one trying to convince the other to let her pass with the food. 

“What crime has this woman committed? She bought two kilos of potatoes, two kilos of tomatoes and some bread to allow her to keep her children alive,” one rebel says.
The other rebel suggests consulting an opposition chief, but the proposal is rejected by the fellow fighter. “I know what he’ll say. He will repeat that this is Islam and the other side are apostates, but that’s not true.” 

Rebel forces have sought to block the entry of medicine and food to regime-held parts of Aleppo for some time, but in recent days they have succeeded in blockading the districts completely after cutting off regime access to the area by blowing up a bridge and blocking a key road. 

In Damascus, meanwhile, a senior official at Syria’s foreign ministry, after meeting with UN representatives, told journalists that the government was concerned about the situation in Aleppo. 

“We had an important meeting to increase our joint efforts to send urgent humanitarian aid to Aleppo province and we agreed to begin this work from tomorrow,” the official said.

Rebel forces seeking the overthrow of the regime entered Aleppo, Syria’s second city, a year ago, and have seized large parts of it but have not managed to capture it completely.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/07/10/Syria-activists-protest-rebel-siege-of-Aleppo-districts-.html
Marinella Correggia
No War network
http://www.sibialiria.org/
Truth against the wars!