NPR

Syria Systematically Harasses Medical Aid Convoys

It's part of the government's strategy to control the flow of aid to conflict zones — and prevent rebel forces from receiving life-saving supplies.
A U.N. convoy carrying aid enters Douma, a besieged town in eastern Ghouta, Syria in March.

Amid suspected chemical attacks and shelling, medics treating nearly any injury in a conflict zone in Syria need supplies like anesthetics, IV catheters, syringes and sterile surgical gloves.

These items are routinely included in humanitarian aid shipments. But in February, they were among the 3,810 medical treatments that Syrian authorities removed from aid convoys headed to Nashabiyah, a city in Ghouta, according to the U.N. Security Council.

"These convoys are systematically stripped of certain types of medical supplies," says , a Damascus-based spokesperson for the U.N. Office

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