The head of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Monday that millions of Syrians are facing food shortages, and half of the country’s population goes to bed hungry. WFP chief David Beasley said people in both opposition-controlled areas and government-controlled areas are in urgent need.
The shortages are due to many factors, including the nine-year war, US sanctions on Syria, and the coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve got people on the brink of starvation now, and they can’t wait. People will die, and people are dying as we speak,” Beasley said.
Food prices in Syria are the highest they have been since the war started in 2011. The Syrian currency recently collapsed mainly due to new US sanctions, which took effect two weeks ago. Syria was already under heavy US sanctions, but the new measures can target anyone, regardless of nationality, who invests in the country. The new sanctions discourage Syria’s neighbors, like Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, from helping the reconstruction effort.
Beasley said borders with Turkey and Lebanon must be open to facilitate aid deliveries to opposition-controlled parts of Syria and government-controlled areas, which is where the majority of Syrians live.
Another group of aid organizations released a statement on Monday on Syria that echoed Beasley’s comments. “A staggering 9.3 million Syrians are now going to sleep hungry and more than another 2 million are at risk of a similar fate,” aid groups Oxfam, Humanity & Inclusion, CARE International, World Vision International, International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps, and the Norwegian Refugee Council said in a joint statement.
The statements come ahead of a donor conference that will take place on Tuesday, where aid groups will work to secure more funding. The WFP has already made cuts to Syria and other war-torn countries, including Yemen.
Any starvation would more likely be happening in the terrorist-controlled areas. Aid from Russia and China hasn’t been stingy.
The U.S. coalition can send food as easily as weapons, but apparently that wasn’t the priority.
Better still. The US can stop it’s terrorist proxies burning thousands of hectares of crops in and around Deir az Zohr.
What is even more irritating to watch are the advertisements from the UN organisation seeking funds fronted by B grade actors from the very same countries doing the destruction.
Someday it will be America’s turn to experience war, destruction, famine and death. You don’t spit at heaven and not have some of it fall back on your face.
Personally I don’t want to see a lot of Americans die, but it would be satisfying to see those who have inflicted the suffering on so many people around the world somehow get their comeuppance, big time.
Our shores are impregnable to attack.
These agencies are just looking for new funding funding and US and Euro-buddies are looking for ways to get special ops, money and weapons into Idlib. Match made in heaven. There is no problem getting food into Syria— all avenues are open. But Western help is always conditional —like no inspection of cargo, freedom to go anywhere, or only given to our paramilitaries. At present Kurds have no freedom to roam as before, so they cannot be used. All areas controlled by government are well supplied. There are now too few arenas to affect what is happening on the ground. US actually targeted Al-Qaeda in Idlib — but we were not told that the target was a group that DEFECTED from West-sponsored HTS/White Helmets, and crossed over to Turkey. This was a message to groups sticking with HTS.
If US and all these humanitarian broken hearts really wanted to bring food to the population if Idlib — nothing easier, Turkey is already distributing food and medical supplies. There is a section of Idlib that is split by M4 highway, now jointly patrolled by Turkey-Russia. Turkey now controls border along Afrin, and all the way up to Manbij area, from where Russian-Turksh military patrols former US-SDF territory up to Iraqi border.
HTS tried a number of stunts — trying to rile up population against Turkish-Russian patrols. Turkey broke it up. Now that HTS has no longer the monopoly over aid — it is losing support.
It is important to remember that many groups in Idlib are not Syrians, they chose to be moved to Idlib after Government took over the areas they used to control. Turkey is basically tempting those militants with assignment in Lybia. Many came from Libya as militants and arms flooded from Jordan along with “wetted” militants
“Food prices in Syria are the highest they have been since the war started in 2011. The Syrian currency recently collapsed mainly due to new US sanctions, which took effect two weeks ago. Syria was already under heavy US sanctions, but the new measures can target anyone, regardless of nationality, who invests in the country. The new sanctions discourage Syria’s neighbors, like Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, from helping the reconstruction effort.”
A lot of dead people but NO NEW WARS.