Assad troops block medical aid to Eastern Ghouta; 50 more dead in new regime bombardment

Trucks from Syrian Red Crescent and humanitarian partners are seen in Ghouta, Syria, on Monday in this photo obtained from social media. (REUTERS)

Workers unload parcels of humanitarian aid at the besieged town of Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Damascus, Syria on March 5, 2018. (REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh)

BEIRUT/GENEVA: Assad regime troops ordered aid agencies to remove vital medical supplies from a humanitarian convoy into Eastern Ghouta on Monday.
As the first aid trucks rolled into the besieged opposition enclave east of Damascus, 50 civilians were killed and 190 injured in a renewed regime bombardment that has killed more than 740 people in the past two weeks.
The regime also pressed ahead with its ground assault. Syrian and Russian troops have captured more than a third of Eastern Ghouta, threatening to slice the last major opposition-held area near the capital in two, despite Western accusations that they are violating a cease-fire ordered last month by the UN Security Council.
The Assad regime ordered 70 percent of medical supplies to be stripped out of a humanitarian aid convoy, preventing trauma kits, surgical kits, insulin and other vital material from reaching the area, the World Health Organization said. The Red Cross said some of its medical equipment was also blocked.
Up to 400,000 people are trapped inside the besieged enclave, and were already running out of food and medical supplies before the assault began with intense airstrikes two weeks ago.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said new strikes on Monday targeted front lines near the town of Harasta and the villages of Beit Sawa and Hosh Al-Ashari.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said the only way to end the conflict was to support the Syrian regime.
The US condemned the assault and accused Moscow of ignoring a UN resolution calling for a 30-day cessation of hostilities.
It said Russia had killed “innocent civilians under the false auspices of counterterrorism operations.”
The UN Human Rights Council on Monday ordered investigators to examine the latest violence.
A resolution tabled by Britain specifically condemned “the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons and aerial bombardments against civilians, and the alleged use of chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta.”