A lost generation: Inside the besieged Syrian towns where children are starving to death
THESE harrowing images tell the tragic story of Syria’s lost generation as at least a quarter of a million children living under brutal siege are starving to death and live in constant fear of bombing.
Youngsters and their families have been held hostage in “open-air prisons” where groups illegally using siege tactics as a weapon of war to prevent food, medicine, fuel and other vital supplies from crossing checkpoints.
A shocking report released by Save the Children has revealed to what extent Syria’s five-year conflict has shattered its residents’ lives.
And it’s findings show that it is Syria’s children who are bearing the brunt of the country’s brutal and lengthy conflict.
The charity is now calling for the use of sieges to be immediately stopped to ensure the safe passage for humanitarian groups to deliver aid to desperate residents.
Children in towns under siege are being denied a childhood as they are forced into work on farms or workshops and to scavenge the streets for scraps of food. Other youngsters have resorted to petty crime to make ends meet.
“Here there are no children anymore, there are only small adults,” said one Syrian mother in Eastern Ghouta, near President Bashar al-Assad’s stronghold Damascus.
Horrors that no child should witness or experience have become a part of daily life for children
More than two million children in Syria no longer attend school because their parents fear it is not safe - or because their schools have already been bombed.
Ahmed, a boy in the city of Douma, east of Damascus, said: “When I hear the sound of a shell or a plane then I get very afraid and I hurry to escape and hide under my bed.”
More than 4,000 schools have been attacked over the past four years, from the bombing and shelling of buildings to armed gangs taking over classrooms to use as military bases, detention centres or torture chambers.
Children are suffering from chronic malnutrition, while sick youngsters are dying while the medicine they desperately need is on the other side of a checkpoint. Many are forced to eat animal feed and leaves.
One Syrian aid worker said: “Many children here have never seen an apple or a pear. They’ve never tasted chicken, and they haven’t eaten a vegetable in months. They wander around in a daze from hunger.”
And when food packages from charities do get through, it is rarely enough.
Ra’ed, an aid worker in Moadamiyeh just outside Damascus, said: “Children are living on the verge of death. They are forced to eat leaves – even flour and milk is forbidden to bring in.”
Medical staff are forced to watch their patients die as life-saving medicine is held up at checkpoints and the sick are blocked from leaving besieged areas.
Pregnant women in areas under siege often experience miscarriage, haemorrhaging and birth defects due to a lack of medical supplies and specialised staff.
In many areas water supplies have also been cut off by besieging groups, while chlorine gas has reportedly been used to attack and kill innocent civilians.
Dr Nizar, a doctor working in Eastern Ghouta, had seen many children die from preventable illnesses.
He said: “Some deaths resulted from malnutrition and others from the lack of medications and vaccines. Children here have died of rabies because the vaccine was not available.
“Skin and stomach diseases have spread because the regime cut off the water supply and people rely on surface water wells which are often polluted with sewage.
“Children are particularly affected by lung inflammation and infections from the large amount of smoke emitted from the explosions.”
Sub-zero temperatures and snowfall also mean a daily struggle to keep children warm.
As well as a physical toll, Syria’s civil war has left many psychological scars.
Children who have witnessed many horrors of war are suffering from recurrent nightmares, stuttering and speech difficulties. Mental health services are rarely available.
Aid workers have also reported an increase in sexual abuse against teenagers, with many turning to drugs to block out their misery.
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Sieges, which have mainly been carried out by the Syrian government, have been a tactic since the beginning of the civil war.
It is thought up to half of deaths in besieged areas have been children under 14 years old.
The number of Syrians living under siege has doubled in the past year, according to Save the Children. A recent report by Médecins Sans Frontières estimates 1.9million people are currently living in besieged towns.
At least 6.6m people have been displaced in Syria and another 4.7m refugees have fled to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Europe.
The United Nations (UN), which has repeatedly called for unobstructed access to besieged towns, estimates that between 250,000 and 470,000 people have been killed during the conflict in Syria.
Save the Children said: “As this report has shown, children in Syria are bearing the brunt of the sieges, and the consequences are devastating.
“Children in besieged areas are some of the most vulnerable and deprived in this brutal and lengthy conflict. They are being bombed, facing starvation and dying from preventable illnesses.
“Horrors that no child should witness or experience have become a part of daily life for children living under siege.”