Syria ongoing violence blocks food aid from tens of thousands: UN

The United Nations’ food agency says 600,000 people were not able to receive international food aid in July due to the ongoing violence in Syria.

“Rising violence in many parts of Damascus and Homs, and a proliferation of checkpoints around the main cities have hit the flow of food distribution,” the World Food Program (WFP) said in a statement on Tuesday.

This comes after the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and WFP said in a joint report released on July 5 that “There is a limited window of opportunity to ensure crisis-affected families do not lose vital sources of food and income… Domestic production over the next 12 months will be severely compromised.”

The report said four million Syrians are not able to feed themselves, adding, “Crop and livestock production, food availability and access to food have all taken an increasingly heavy toll.”

Meanwhile, Syria called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to dispatch humanitarian aid to the Syrians who are trapped by Takfiri groups in the western city of Homs.

On July 4, the Syrian Foreign Ministry also asked the Red Cross to help safely evacuate the trapped citizens from the areas controlled by armed groups in Homs.

Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011.

According to the reports, the West and its regional allies– Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on July 25 that more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of foreign-sponsored militancy in the country. Millions of others have also been displaced in the violence.