​​​​​​​ Arabs in Sheikh Maqsoud condemn starvation policy by Damascus government

 Since the beginning of this April, the Damascus government has prevented trucks of food and medicine from entering, in addition to preventing flour from crossing into Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods, which resulted in the bakeries stopping.

 The siege is not new. Rather, it began on August 20, 2020, and this negatively affects the lives of more than 200,000 people, or 31,000 families.

 In this context, people of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods told our agency about the insults they are subjected to when they go to the bakeries in the areas of the Damascus government.

  The people should not be used as leverage for political purposes

 Mustafa Mahmoud, indicates that the basic material for sustaining life has been cut off since the beginning of Ramadan. He says: “The two neighborhoods’ lack of bread is due to the Damascus siege.”

 Mahmoud called on the Damascus government not to use the needs of the people in political issues, "The people should not be used as a pressure card for political purposes, because the people of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh are also residents of Syria."

 We get harassed

 As for Fatima Rifaat Ali, she stressed the necessity of introducing flour for the preparation of bread, saying: "Fifteen days without bread, medicine and gas. We are deprived of our most basic rights. The Damascus government has been preventing the entry of basic materials into our neighborhood."

 Fatima noted that the people are forced to go to the areas of the Damascus government to buy bread in this holy month.

 And she added, "Even when we went to their areas to secure our livelihood (bread), we were not spared their harassment, as they say you are from Sheikh Maqsoud's family, what brought you here, in a blunt and insulting tone."

 The medicine is also no longer available

 In turn, Muhammad Youssef indicated that the people of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods are suffering a lot to get bread, and he says: "I get up at five in the morning to go to a bakery in the Damascus government area to get bread, and I don't come back until noon."

 He also noted that he suffers from diabetes and heart disease as well, and finds it difficult to find medicines to treat his illness, since the Damascus government also prevents medicines from entering the two neighborhoods.

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 ANHA