03/11/2020

Syrian regime depriving families of detainees of humanitarian aid in Daramsuq

DARAMSUQ — Sham Media Network reported the diversion of humanitarian aid delivered by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) by Syrian regime forces.

According to local sources, SARC, in cooperation with Syrian regime forces, have deprived humanitarian aid from people in the Daramsuq (Damascus) countryside with relatives detained in regime prisons.

The sources stated that SARC decided to remove 100 families of civilians currently detained or killed by the regime from the lists of beneficiaries of its relief program in the village of Housh Arab in western Qalamoun supposedly to reduce the number of beneficiaries.

However, no families with relatives in the regime army and its local militias were removed from the list of beneficiaries.

Last year, Human Rights Watch published a detailed report revealing the Syrian regime’s exploitation of humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance.

At the time, HRW stressed the need for international actors, donors, and investors to change their practices in the field of assistance and investment to ensure that any funding they provide to Syria promotes the rights of Syrians and not to the ruling regime which has used its monopoly on assistance to punish its opponents and reward its supporters.