Syria must allow aid convoys to starving civilians, says US

The US has urged the Syrian government to
allow immediate aid convoys to starving
civilians cut off in rebel-held suburbs of
Damascus.
Washington said the army's months-long siege
left many people in desperate need of food,
water and medicine.
It also cited "unprecedented reports" of
children dying of malnutrition just a few
kilometres from President Bashar al-Assad
palace.
The Syrian army has warned the rebel-held
areas must surrender or starve.

'Malnutrition' deaths
At least three of Damascus' suburbs - Yarmouk,
Eastern Ghouta and Moudamiyah - have been
besieged by government forces for several
months.
The situation has become so desperate that
earlier this week Muslim clerics issued a
religious ruling allowing people to eat cats,
dogs and donkeys just to survive.
Those animals are usually considered unfit for
human consumption in Islam.
In a statement on Friday, US State Department
spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "We call on the
Syrian regime to immediately approve relief
convoys."
And she warned that "those who are
responsible for atrocities in the Damascus
suburbs and across Syria must be identified
and held accountable".
She added that in Moudamiyah "people have
been without basic necessities for nearly a
year, and the regime's deliberate prevention of
the delivery of life-saving humanitarian
supplies to thousands of civilians is
unconscionable".
Footage obtained by the BBC from Yarmouk
showed families struggling to find enough to
eat.
An 11-year-old boy in the suburb, who had
seen many of his friends die, said: "We bored
of this. If they (government troops) want to
attack us with chemical weapons - then just do
it! But can they make them with the smell of
bread so we can die happy?"
Syrian activists say they are now starting to
record the first deaths of complications
caused by malnutrition.