MSDToday, thousands of residents of Al-Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods demonstrated as denouncing the siege imposed by the Fourth Division of the Syrian government on the area since the beginning of August this year, as the Fourth Division completely prevents the entry of food, flour, medicines, fuel, baby milk and relief materials.
The participants raised banners that read: “No to the suffocating siege, we demand the lifting of the siege imposed on Al-Sheikh Maqsoud, Al-Ashrafiyeh and Al-Shahbaa neighborhoods, and we demand the withdrawal of the Fourth Division barriers from the roads leading to Al-Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods”.
The demonstration swept through the main streets of the neighborhood to the Al-Jazeera checkpoint in the southern side of Al-Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood near the Fourth Division checkpoint amid demonstrators chanting slogans rejecting the siege in which those slogans read: “No to the siege, the Syrian people are united, long live the resistance of the Peoples”.
In front of the Al-Jazeera checkpoint, a speech was delivered on behalf of the residents of the neighborhood by “Maraee Al-Shibli”, through which he referred to the suffering of the people of the region, rejecting the siege imposed by the Fourth Division, and Al-Shibli warned of the consequences of continuing the siege on Al-Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods.
Al-Shibli called on the Syrian government to reconsider its policies and crimes and violations committed against the Syrian people and it should bear its responsibilities.
The Fourth Division of the Damascus government continues its suffocating siege on Al-Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods of Aleppo and on Al-Shahbaa areas in the northern countryside of the city, which includes tens of thousands of displaced people of Afrin in addition to the residents of the area.
There were many repercussions in several aspects by government siege on the area, as electric generators stopped working for almost twenty days in Al-Sheikh Maqsoud and Al-Ashrafiyeh neighborhoods after the loss of essential fuel for the operation of furnaces and generators, and also led to the stopping of commercial movement, workshops and factories working and this situation worsened with the coming of winter.
In a related context, the Education Authority in Al-Shahbaa region announced the suspension of school sessions for the second week in a row.
