Convoy of food reaches Darayya but rights group says regime helicopters have dropped at least 20 barrel bombs

The Syrian government’s willingness to allow humanitarian aid into besieged towns is freshly in doubt after it reportedly started barrel bombing the Damascus suburb of Darayya hours after allowing food aid in for the first time since 2012.

A convoy of food aid – approved by Damascus – reached rebel-held Darayya on Thursday night. It was greeted by the UN and the World Food Programme (WFP) as a sign that Bashar al-Assad’s regime might become more flexible on the delivery of aid to other besieged towns.

But on Friday reports emerged that the Syrian air force had begun a succession of raids on the town as residents converged to collect the food. “There has been intense random barrel bombing of the town since 9am local time,” a member of the local council told Agence France-Presse, referring to the crude unguided explosive devices usually dropped by regime helicopters.

“Aid received by the council has not been distributed yet because of the intensity of the raids,” Shadi Matar, a resident of Darayya, said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said regime helicopters had dropped at least 20 barrel bombs. “Heavy barrel bombing on many areas of Darayya from the morning has stalled food aid distribution,” observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The reports were not immediately confirmed by the WFP or Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), which delivered the “food aid, including dry goods and flour, non-food aid as well as medical aid” to Darayya in lorries. The convoys were thought to be carrying enough to feed about 2,400 people for a month.

If confirmed, the bombings would indicate a conflicting approach by the Syrian government. They could suggest that different parts of the regime are taking different approaches, or emanate from its desire to demonstrate the limits of its co-operation with the UN.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, the government is permitted only to attack sites where it believes Islamic State or al-Nusra Front fighters are located.

The government has frequently promised to allow aid delivery but then refused to do so. In talks this week the government told the UN that it was willing to allow access to 15 of the 19 besieged areas in Syria. Even before Friday there had been doubts about the credibility of its promise and about what pressure Russia was putting on the government.



Darayya has been under siege since November 2012 and has witnessed some of the worst bombardment of the civil war, which is in its sixth year. The UN estimates that between 4,000 and 8,000 people live there.

Last week a joint convoy of the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and SARC reached the town and delivered medicines, vaccines, baby formula and “nutritional items for children” – but no food.

A WFP official said he had met some beneficiaries of the food aid and community leaders. “The supply of the very basic commodities is very challenging, so as a consequence the prices of the commodities themselves are very high whenever they are available,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent unload food supplies from a lorry on Thursday. Photograph: Fadi Dirani/AFP/Getty Images

“As a result most families are having to do with one meal, which is not complete as a meal, per day in order to be able to get by,” he said.

Among those joining the convoy into Darayya were the UN humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, and Khawla Mattar, a spokeswoman for the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, according to photographs posted by local activists.

The convoy was critical to UN efforts to convince opposition activists it is worth restarting peace talks with the Syrian government. Senior officials on the Syrian opposition umbrella negotiating body have resigned over the lack of progress of the talks, breaches of the ceasefire and lack of humanitarian access.

Western diplomats had hoped the delivery of aid was a sign that Russia was willing to pressure the Assad government over aid and over peace talks. The west has been disappointed before by Russia’s intentions.

The International Syria Support Group, jointly chaired by the US and Russia, agreed at a meeting on 17 May that if aid was not delivered by 1 June, it would use airdrops and helicopters to try to deliver food.