Starving Syrians forced to eat grass

Fresh evidence has emerged of how starving Syrians are being forced to eat grass to survive. Aid agencies say that the Assad regime is using humanitarian aid, which is supposed to be delivered freely under both international law and UN resolutions, as a bargaining chip.

Aid workers claim the crisis has now spread well beyond the town of Madaya, north-west of Damascus, where pictures of emaciated children caused an international outcry.

UN workers who accompanied the convoy to Madaya two weeks ago said conditions were the worst they had encountered in the war. Even since then, residents have continued to die.

While the town of Madaya has a population of 42,000, the UN says 400,000 people in Syria are under siege, and more than four million are in “hard to reach areas.”Aid groups estimate the total number of people who are being surrounded and deprived of aid in this way is in fact more than one million.

[National Post]

This entry was posted in Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation by Grant Montgomery.