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2014-01-16 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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Starvation reported at Palestinian refugee camp in Syria
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Images of emaciated children and old people who appear to have died of hunger are emerging from a Palestinian refugee camp outside of Damascus, where thousands are at risk of starvation after months of living under siege, UN officials and camp residents said.
"There is profound civilian suffering in Yarmouk, with widespread incidence of malnutrition and the absence of medical care," said Chris Gunness of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which is tasked with helping displaced Palestinians across the region. He said most camp residents have long been eating little other than stale vegetables, powdered tomato paste and animal feed.
Camp residents and activists on Tuesday reported two more deaths from hunger, bringing to 48 the number who have died since November from illnesses related to the siege.
Farouq al-Rifai, an activist in Yarmouk who uses a pseudonym, says at least five of those deaths were directly caused by malnutrition, while others were attributable to a range of causes related to the lack of food and medicine, including anemia and diabetes. All of the victims have been children and the elderly, but "the hunger is inescapable for everyone," Rifai said.
Gunness said the UN could not confirm deaths from starvation, but it has noted such reports with increasing alarm. He said an aid convoy on Monday was forced to turn back after a firefight erupted as the vehicles approached a loyalist checkpoint on the southern entrance to the camp. The government had denied access to a safer route through a northern checkpoint closer to the capital, he said.
Yarmouk residents accuse forces loyal to Assad of blocking access to relief convoys. The government blames "terrorists" inside the camp, including members of the radical Jabhat al-Nusra, which it claims has sought sanctuary there.
Western leaders say the government is preventing aid from reaching Yarmouk and other besieged Damascus suburbs where conditions are also reported to be dire. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday, "The deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people is . . . utterly unacceptable." 
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Posted by ryuge 2014-01-16 00:00||
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