Civilians in regime-besieged neighborhoods of eastern Aleppo have faced severe bread shortages since Saturday, according to a local civil defense official.
"Only three bakeries are still functioning to meet the needs of thousands of city residents," Najib al-Ansari, a pro-opposition civil defense official based in Aleppo, told Anadolu Agency.
"The bakeries don’t have the capacity to meet the demand for bread in eastern Aleppo," he said. "Few local residents are able to benefit from their services."
"Most other bakeries have been bombed or have had to shut down due to an acute lack of baking flour," al-Ansari added.
"The only three bakeries remaining were supposed to have distributed bread on Saturday, but failed to do so due to intense airstrikes," the official said.
"Not a single loaf of bread has been baked in the last five days," he added.
Most of Eastern Aleppo’s bakeries have been forced to stop operating, reportedly due to intense attacks by the Assad regime and allied militias backed by Iran.