Islamic State Cuts Fuel Supplies to Rebel Areas of Northern Syria

Islamic State fighters are stopping fuel shipments into parts of northern Syria, according to anti-government activists and aid workers. The tactic is sparking fears of food shortages and hospital shutdowns in the rebel-held areas.

“We are facing the threat of a famine if the fuel supply remains cut,” one activist, Tareq Abdelhaq, from Syria’s northern Idlib province, told the Financial Times. “Power, water and farming are all run on generators here now.”

The Islamic State controls the oil-rich eastern region of Syria that has become its stronghold. Rebels say the Islamic radicals are using the blockade, which reportedly started about eight days ago, to weaken the rebels’ fight against the Islamists’ advance into northern Aleppo province.

Bread and gasoline prices have reportedly already tripled in some areas and emergency workers are said to be lacking fuel to reach areas hit by barrel bombs, where civilians are often buried in rubble.

A representative of the Syrian Civil Defense, a volunteer rescue organization, also said several hospitals had shut down, and that 14 newborn children had died at a hospital in Maarat Naaman because incubators couldn’t run, according to the Financial Times.

The situation, analysts say, is complicated because even the rebels are dependent on fuel from ISIS-controlled areas. “ISIS is sitting on top of this oil and Americans won’t bomb it, because all these people are dependent on it,” Syria analyst Joshua Landis told the Financial Times. “Everyone would starve to death because it’s the only source of wealth in Syria and Iraq.”

Dozens of Countries Demand Assad Halts Aerial Attacks

In a letter to the U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, more than 70 countries demanded Syria stop the indiscriminate aerial attacks that have killed thousands.

The 71 countries expressed “outrage” at the government’s large-scale violence against civilians, especially “the systematic use of barrel bombs,” and urged the U.N. Security Council to prevent the Syrian air force from making future attacks.

May was reportedly the deadliest month in the Syrian conflict, now in its fifth year, the letter said, and in recent weeks Syrian air force helicopters have repeatedly bombarded heavily populated areas in and around Aleppo, the country’s largest city, leaving hundreds dead and dozens more wounded.

“Tragically, these barrel bomb attacks in Aleppo were the latest in a long line of the grisly and horrific use of aerial weapons, including barrel bombs, that have been launched by the Syrian air force on crowded urban areas, such as markets and bakery queues, hospitals and medical facilities, schools and places of worship, transportation hubs and residential buildings, throughout the course of the Syrian crisis leaving thousands dead,” the letter said.

The letter was drafted by the ambassadors of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and the signatories include the U.S., the U.K. and France – but not Syria’s close allies Russia and China, two of the veto-wielding members of the Security Council.

MSF: 10 Medical Facilities Targeted with Barrel Bombs in Past Month

Ten medical facilities in northern Syria have been hit by barrel bombs over the past month, including Busra hospital, in Daraa governorate, which was completely destroyed after being hit by ten of the improvised devices, Médecins Sans Frontièrs (Doctors Without Borders) reported.

Busra hospital was the only health facility providing neonatal and dialysis services in Daraa, the international medical charity said.

“They targeted the building at about 11 p.m. with four drums that broke doors and windows. When we arrived we heard the helicopters still flying around and we evacuated the medical team and the patients. After an hour, they dropped six more bombs that destroyed half the medical equipment and seriously damaged the building,” said one of the doctors in charge of the hospital.

MSF said it had received reports of attacks on nine health structures since May, mostly in Aleppo.

Recommended Reads

• Newsweek: Inside Israel’s Secret War in Syria
• The Washington Post: Here’s How Badly the Pentagon Effort to Train Syrian Rebels is Lagging
• The Guardian: We Share Responsibility for Syria’s Murderous Stalemate. We Must Come Together to Break It
• The Washington Post: A New Strategy for Iraq and Syria