Children going hungry in Syria war zones

NOVANEWSUN

November 02, 2013

GENEVA: The United Nations’ food aid agency said on Friday that it feared a rise in malnutrition among children trapped in besieged communities in Syria where fighting has halted supply convoys.

“The World Food Programme (WFP) is concerned about the fate of many Syrians trapped in conflict areas and still in need of urgent food assistance,” spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told reporters in Geneva.
“We are monitoring worrying reports emerging of malnutrition among children in besieged areas,” she said.
The agency delivered rations to a record 3.3 million people in Syria in October, up from 2.7 million the previous month, but Byrs voiced deep concern about civilians in besieged areas that remain inaccessible.
“It is a record for WFP operations since starting in 2011. But it is still short of our target of 4 million,” Byrs said. The WFP works hand in hand with Syria’s Red Crescent to distribute aid supplies to people in need, but their teams have been unable to reach 38 different locations since mid-2012, notably around the capital Damascus, Byrs said.
Among them is the town of Moadamiyet Al Sham, which has been under siege for months by the Syrian army.
“We’ve tried unsuccessfully nine times to reach Moadamiyet since last year,” Byrs said.
Although some 3,000 people were evacuated last week, the same number or more are still thought to be trapped there, according to the UN.
“We are very concerned about the situation of those who remain,” said Byrs.
Fighting and insecurity had hampered its access in parts of Aleppo and Hassakeh provinces during October, she said.
“Elsewhere in the country and especially in the governorates of Damascus and Rural Damascus, more areas are becoming inaccessible due to the intensification of the conflict,” Brys said.
“WFP is concerned about the fate of many Syrians trapped in conflict areas and still in need of urgent food assistance. We are monitoring worrying reports emerging of malnutrition among children in besieged areas,” Byrs said.
There have been increasing reports that barring food aid has been deployed as a tactic by the Syrian regime to starve out areas held by rebel forces.
Byrs declined to comment on that claim, referring to general “insecurity.” But she cited government red tape, as well as the hurdles posed by multiple checkpoints set up by different units on both sides in Syria’s war.