The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northern and Eastern Syria (AANES) has warned that a potential humanitarian catastrophe could unfold in Kurdish neighbourhoods of the northern city of Aleppo as a result of a siege imposed by regime forces.
AANES, which controls most of Syria's territory east of the Euphrates River and is also known as Rojava, says neighbourhoods under its control in Aleppo are witnessing a shortage of food supplies and the collapse of telecommunications services.
The administration’s environment, economy and agriculture departments have warned that the siege is quickly developing into a humanitarian crisis.
The Syrian regime's Fourth Division tightened an existing siege on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh – the only two neighbourhoods in the city under the control of AANES – in mid-December.
"The ongoing siege of the AANES-aligned neighbourhoods...has led to an almost untenable situation for the people there," Jamie Parks, researcher at the Rojava Information Centre (RIC), told °®Âþµº.
"Temporary embargoes, regularly imposed by the Syrian army, restrict the entry of basic necessities such as flour for bakeries, baby food, fuel, and medicines to the isolated pocket of mainly Kurdish residents," Parks said.
The RIC said the situation had further deteriorated since the devastating February 6 earthquake which struck large swathes of southeast Turkey and northwest Syria, saying vital aid to affected regions - including Aleppo - was being delayed and used as a bargaining chip by President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The latest siege began in August last year, but there have been blockades before, and local statistics indicate that about 25,000 civilians live in the two areas.
Limited quantities of food, medicine and building supplies used to be allowed in but at high cost.
It is widely believed that the regime has imposed the siege to turn the population against AANES and its de facto military arm, the Syrian Democratic Forces, and pressure Kurdish-led authorities to surrender the neighbourhoods to the regime.
Syria's regime does not recognise AANES and accuses it of separatism.
Backed by Russia and Iran for years, the regime has regained control of much of Syrian territory, while other parts of the country are controlled by the hardline Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or other armed factions backed by Turkey.