The Syrian regime is unable to supply sufficient quantities of bread and foodstuffs in eastern Deir Ez Zor city, threatening the lives of thousands of civilians.
Speaking to Zaman al-Wasl, Jalal al-Hamd, the director of the Justice Observatory for Life in Deir Ez Zor, explained that each person gets, at most, half a loaf of bread every day in the regime controlled Harabish neighborhood in eastern Deir Ez Zor.
Al-Hamd added that the Harabish district, which was isolated by the Islamic State forces a few months ago from the al-Jura and al-Qusour neighborhoods west of the city, does not receive any shares of the aerial food drops dropped on the other regime controlled neighborhoods. The neighborhood residents survive on some stockpiled materials which are sold at exorbitant prices.
According to pro-regime media outlets, some 12,000 families are besieged in the neighborhoods of Harabish, al-Tahtouh and the close town of al-Jafra. These areas receive around 2,000 bread packages daily via military helicopters, but they are not enough to stem the threat of a famine breaking out within them.
Media outlets said that the price of one kilogram of sugar is 22,000 Syrian Pounds, one kilogram of rice is 20,000 Syrian Pounds, and one kilogram of tea is 100,000 Syrian Pounds. Media outlets pointed out that residents were negatively affected by the damage caused to Euphrates Dam as the damages reduced amounts of water coming to Deir Ez Zor. The city’s residents depend on the water from the Euphrates for drinking water after other sources of water were cut around four months ago.
With the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), since February 2016, the Syrian Red Crescent began distributing free bread to the residents of the besieged neighborhoods of Deir Ez Zor. They also distribute humanitarian assistance in cooperation with the World Food Program via air drops which began at the end of February 2016.
The regime and its auxiliary militias continue to control the neighborhoods of al-Joura and al-Qusour in western Deir Ez Zor. The Islamic State forces separated the neighborhoods from the military airport, the Harabish neighborhood and the town of al-Jafra on the eastern outskirts of the city in January 2017
