Almost 1m under siege in Syria

The United Nations has said that the number of people living under siege in Syria has doubled this year to almost one million.

According to Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien, the figure has jumped from 486,700 to 974,080 in just six months as rebel forces and jihadist groups surround towns and blockade them, preventing people getting crucial supplies.

Mr O’Brien said that Syrians were being “isolated, starved, bombed and denied medical attention and humanitarian assistance in order to force them to submit or flee”, reflecting the desperate situation that so many face.

The plight of almost one million Syrians was further expressed by Mr O’Brien who confirmed that as of Sunday, there were barely any functioning hospitals in the rebel-held areas due to facilities being “bombed into oblivion”. A school was also hit on the government side on Sunday, killing eight children.

As the final parts of the food rations delivered by the UN before access was cut off in July were distributed on 13th November, the Syrian people find themselves increasingly worse off. Only a handful of rations from local NGOs remain while food in markets is scarce and prices have sky-rocketed.