Air Strikes Hamper Food Aid Distribution In Besieged Syrian Town

June 10, 2016

The United States and France have accused Syrian government forces of bombing a besieged town just hours after food aid was delivered for starving residents there for the first time in nearly four years.

Local residents and a monitoring group said government forces bombarded the rebel-held town of Daraya outside Damascus from the morning on June 10, hampering the distribution of the food aid.

A convoy of food aid was delivered to Daraya late on June 9 after the UN said the Syrian government had approved access to 15 of the 19 besieged areas within Syria.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government helicopters had dropped at least 20 barrel bombs "on many areas of Daraya."

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said "such attacks are unacceptable in any circumstance but in this case they also hampered the delivery and distribution of badly needed assistance."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault accused Damascus of "extraordinary duplicity", saying the regime had finally granted access to aid convoys after heavy international pressure "and then the bombing restarted."

Daraya, which has been under siege by government forces since November 2012, has witnessed some of the worst bombardment during the country's civil war. 

Severe cases of malnutrition have been reported among its few thousand residents due to severe food shortages.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP