Terrorist Admits Terrorist Groups in Aleppo’s Eastern Neighborhoods Monopolizing Food, Preventing Civilians from Leaving

ALEPPO – Terrorist Mohammad Faraj Hallaq admitted that terrorists in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo are monopolizing food supplies and distributing them only to those who work with them and submit to their orders, and that they also plant explosives in the corridors set up for civilians to exit the neighborhoods in order to prevent them from leaving, according to SANA.

In confessions broadcast by the Syrian TV on Saturday night, Hallaq said that he is originally from al-Bab town in Aleppo, and that he had been fighting alongside militants against the Syrian Arab Army in al-Sheikh Najjar and Hanano areas for a year and a half.

 He said that the terrorists in the eastern neighborhood, who are led by terrorist Jihad al-Batoushi, force people to fight against the Syrian Arab Army under the threat of killing those who don’t comply, adding that he was among those people who were forced to fight in Hanano.

Hallaq said that terrorists exploit and abuse locals in various ways including monopolizing food supplies and distributing them only to those who work with them and submit to their orders, noting that the prices charged for food in the eastern neighborhoods were exorbitant, with one kilo of rice or bulgur being sold for up to SYP 13,000 while flour was sold for around SYP 3,000 per kilo.

He also admitted that militants suppressed the protests of locals who tried to break into food stores that the militants were keeping from them, adding that everyone who protested was imprisoned by the militants.

Hallaq said that the militants planted explosives in the corridors set up to allow civilians to exit the eastern neighborhoods to prevent them from leaving so that they can keep using them as human shields in a bid to prevent the Syrian Arab Army from targeting them.