Thousands of besieged civilians are waiting near Ithriyah area for the opening of a safe corridor for them to exit towards Idlib and information about starting demining the roads for them to go out

Hama province – The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:: the countryside of Hama is witnessing an anticipation of implementation of evacuation of thousands of civilians trapped in the besieged circle in the eastern countryside of Hama, and the SOHR learned that hundreds of families are waiting in al-Azeeb Valley area located at 16 km southwest of Ithriyah area in the eastern countryside of Salamiyah, and reliable sources asserted to the SOHR that the trapped citizens in the northern countryside of Hama are waiting for the opening of a safe corridor for them, while there is information about the starting of demining operations by the regime forces to open a safe corridor for the citizens to go out and head towards Idlib province.

This anticipation of the civilians comes after the countryside of Ham witnessed during the past week, hundreds of raids on villages controlled by the “Islamic State” organization within the besieged circle, which includes the eastern countryside of Hama and the part linked to it from the side of the eastern countryside of Homs, rising it to at least 36, including 7 children and 7 women, who were killed in heavy aerial bombardment in the past 5 days on the villages controlled by ISIS in the eastern countryside of Hama, in which about 5,000 civilians are still trapped in a circle surrounded by the regime forces and their allied militiamen. The raids also injured about 94 civilians with different severity, which may increase the death toll, amid large shortage in the medical abilities to save the serious conditions and sever injuries.

Such an escalated targeting of infrastructures and heavy shelling on and destruction of villages in the eastern countryside of Hama by the Russian and the regime’s warplanes along with its forces coincided with deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the area. About 5 thousand civilians are still trapped in this besieged area, namely the villages of the eastern countryside of Hama and the area linked to it in the eastern countryside of Homs. Tragically, they are experiencing a significant shortage of food and medicine and lack of hospitals, medical care and specialized doctors for the critical conditions. Local sources called upon International Organizations, through the SOHR, to put pressure on all actors to secure a safe passage for thousands of civilians – children, men, elderly, and women – to areas beyond the control of ISIS. Local sources confirmed to the SOHR that hundreds of families were transferred to areas near Ithriyah-Salamiyah road in order to move them to areas under the control of the factions and Hayyaat Tahrir Al-Sham. Contact was lost with tens of civilians while fleeing ISIS-controlled areas in the eastern countryside of Hama.