In Birzeh, the siege continues even after surrender
TRUCE AND LIES: Birzeh was the first neighborhood in Damascus [...]
29 September 2014
TRUCE AND LIES: Birzeh was the first neighborhood in Damascus to launch protests against the rule of Bashar al-Assad in April 2011, and also the first to sign a truce between rebel and regime forces at the beginning of this year after enduring total regime encirclement for eight months.
Although the truce stipulated the “return of services to the neighborhood, and the repair of infrastructure,” electricity is still only available for a few hours a day, and sometimes once every few days, a citizen journalist present in Birzeh told Syria Direct Monday.
Food is scarce in the neighborhood, due to regime checkpoints surrounding Birzeh that impede movement in and out, the activist said. Here, a child searches for kindling amidst debris.
The text of the truce stipulated “opening the main roads in the neighborhood while placing checkpoints along the main path” in order to facilitate the entry of goods and the return of families.
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