Friday, December 14, 2012

Syrian humanitarian disaster looms as internal refugees face bread shortages


With Assad's regime targeting bakeries, displaced families are starving as harsh weather compounds the struggle for food

in Azaz, Syria
The Guardian,
If this were not bad enough, there is overwhelming evidence that the military forces of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad have deliberately targeted bakeries, in what appears to be official policy to starve rebel areas into submission. (It has also hit field hospitals, schools and civilian areas.) The al-Bab factory has been targeted three times; the last time a rocket injured six bakery workers. "We wanted freedom and look what happened. The regime cut everything," Qasab said.

A smaller bakery nearby was still operational: 500 people were waiting outside; each had a number scrawled in ink on their palms. It was unclear when, if at all, bread might emerge, like a minor miracle, from a small factory hatch.

This week, as desperation rises, the first food demonstrations have broken out in rural areas; some have resorted to trying to bake bread at home, with Syria returning to its Ottoman past. The FSA, in effect the government now in much of Syria's countryside, admits that there is little it can do....."

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