Nobol, al-Zahraa Villages: A Humanitarian Catastrophe Amidst Blockade

Ali al-Abdullah

The villages of Nobol and al-Zahraa in Aleppo are back in the spotlight when two children no older than 10 died of hunger. Their deaths were caused by the severe lack of flour and nutrition when the armed groups imposed a siege on the two villages for more than ten months. Residents of these villages were only guilty of supporting the regime and belonging to a certain sect.
The two children's deaths drove the inhabitants of the village to plead help, demanding the imposed siege to be lifted.
The declination of humanitarian conditions in both villages drove the National Defense forces to lift the siege and provide food, but the armed groups ambushed the forces, causing 11 martyrs, 50 injuries, and 7 missing.
Moreover, former member of the People's Assembly for Aleppo, Mohammad Gharib told al-Ahed News, "Both villages are on the verge of a true humanitarian disaster, driving residents to eat tree leaves due to the severe lack of flour and foods," pointing out, "the helicopters supplied with food is not enough for the two villages when there are more than 50 thousand people living there, requiring more than 10 tons of flour."
On this note, Gharib stated, "Militiamen in Tel Rifaat village control both villages' electricity. Water is hard to obtain there because of the drought, and people completely depend on wells that only work by electricity or fuel."
Furthermore, the villages' suffering goes beyond the humanitarian or nutritional aspect, seeing that many of the residents are being kidnapped. Almost 200 were abducted and 150 martyred when the armed groups targeted them with mortars. Among the killed were children, women, and elderly and diseases and epidemics are being spread, such as Leis mania and scabies.

"The residents' relationship with neighboring villages is good, but al-Nusra Front and the militiamen prevented entry of medicine and nutrition," he added.
"Foods used to be entered to the two villages through the surrounding Kurd villages, such as Borj al-Qas, al-Zouk, and al-Ziyara. However, Kurds there conspired with the Turkish government, ultimately increasing pressure on both villages," Gharib noted.

Gharib further renewed warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe occurring in both villages, especially after some pathways were destroyed which made humane matters worse there.

For his part, member of the People's Assembly for Aleppo Faisal Najati reiterated in an interview with al-Ahed News website, "Nobol and al-Zahraa fight for their livelihood against armed groups, especially in Aazaz, Andan, and Houreytan."
"There is a difficulty obtaining flour, bread, food, and infant milk to the two villages," Najati noted, stressing, "the Syrian government does not disregard aid to these villages and sends airplanes filled with flour and foods."
"However, this is not enough because the villages' residents are around 50 thousand and one cannot drop enough flour with this number of planes," he added.
Moreover, Najati said, "the two villages' suffering was the reason of their stance towards the Syrian crisis and avoiding involvement in conflicts with the surrounding armed groups."

Source: al-Ahed News, translated and edited by moqawama.org