BEIRUT/JEDDAH:  Tens of thousands of Syrian civilians in areas recaptured by Assad regime troops have lost access to humanitarian aid because relief agencies can no longer reach them.

International aid groups have been forced to halt their crucial health, food and protection services because they have no regime authorization to work.

Vulnerable civilians in Syria’s south, Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, and rural parts of Homs province have been left without the vital support they once relied on.

“The aid that used to come from international agencies to the south completely stopped,” said Mohammad Al-Zoabi, 29, from Al-Mseifra in southern Syria. 

“There’s a lack of flour, medical supplies, and hospitals in general after medical points and field clinics were closed.”

The UN said 66 aid trucks entered the south from Jordan in June, but none in July when regime troops seized the area. Residents said doctors and Syrian aid workers had fled, were wanted by security forces for working in opposition areas or had requested — but were denied — regime permission to resume relief work.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), Mercy Corps, and Save the Children have all halted aid programs. 

“During the course of the war, as areas have changed hands to government control, the IRC has stopped providing support in those areas,” IRC country director Lorraine Bramwell said.

Residents in Talbisseh, a town in Homs seized by the regime in May, said medicine and food had become unavailable or unaffordable.

“There was one functioning hospital and three medical points in Talbisseh before the regime came, but they all shut down because now they need licenses from the ministries,” said Sami, 20.

Meanwhile, opposition forces have completed the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the frontline in Idlib province. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in September to establish a demilitarized buffer zone zone there to prevent a massive regime assault.