Over 640,200 Syrians live under 'slow death' sieges: Report

The Syrian government is accused of siege tactics that led to deaths of civilians by starvation, dehydration and the lack of medical aid

Saturday 21 March 2015 15:03 GMT



A Syrian boy carries a food ration distributed by volunteers to poor families during Ramadan in a rebel-held area in the northern city of Aleppo on 5 July, 2014 (AFP)

More than 640,200 Syrians are living under long-term sieges, most of which are enforced by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, a new report to be released in full next week has found.

The cited figure is more than three times the estimate made by the United Nations, which calculated that around 212,000 Syrians live in besieged areas that have no access to humanitarian aid.

The report, entitled "Slow Death" and written by the Syrian American Medical Society, identifies 38 communities as being besieged, which is more than the 11 areas that the UN recognises.

"We’re not talking about quote-unquote terrorists, we're talking about families who have nothing to do with armed groups," Zaher Sahloul, the president of the Syrian American Medical Society, told the Associated Press, which had obtained a copy of the report in advance.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/over-640200-syrians-live-under-slow-death-sieges-report-765976430