DAMASCUS, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Humanitarian aid convoys left the Syria's Eastern Ghouta area on Friday afternoon after delivering the aid shipment, the Red Cross spokesperson told Xinhua.
The 13 truckloads of aid that entered the rebel-held Douma district in the Eastern Ghouta countryside east of Damascus have unloaded the shipment, according to Inji Sedky, the spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The trucks included 2,400 food parcels and 3,240 wheat flour bags.
The 13 truckloads are part of the former 46 trucks that entered Douma a few days before but couldn't be unloaded at the time due to the situation on the ground, Sedky said.
At the time, activists said the 13 truckloads had to leave Douma due to government shelling, while the government said the rebels shelling hindered the full offload of the remaining trucks before they prepared again to enter Douma on Friday.
Meanwhile, the state TV in Syria said the rebels in Eastern Ghouta on Friday fired at the humanitarian corridor in the Wafidin area in northeastern Damascus, the same corridor the humanitarian convoy took to enter into Douma, while opposition activists said the Syrian shelling targeted Douma as the aid convoys were entering.
Also, the TV said that rebels and their families are expected to leave Eastern Ghouta through the Wafidin corridor, without giving further details.
The UN humanitarian agencies have sounded the alarm about the worsening humanitarian situation in that region, where activists said over 800 people have been killed since late last month by the heavy bombardment and military showdown in areas of Eastern Ghouta.
The Syrian army has captured 52 percent of Eastern Ghouta in recent days, as part of an ongoing wide-scale offensive to dislodge the rebels from that key area on the eastern rim of Damascus.
