MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Save the Children Fund interviewed over 120 people, including children, living under siege in Syria. According to the organization, minors in all focus groups said they were afraid, while their parents said their children had become withdrawn, aggressive or depressed.
"Children are dying from lack of food and medicines in parts of Syria just a few kilometres from warehouses that are piled high with aid. They are paying the price for the world’s inaction. Families interviewed for this report spoke of sick babies dying at checkpoints, vets treating humans and children forced to eat animal feed as they cower in basements from airstrikes," Misty Buswell, regional advocacy, media and communications director from Save the Children said.
The report found that people in all adult focus groups but one reported children dying in their communities due to lack of medicines or access to healthcare. In four groups, people reported children dying from malnutrition and hunger-related causes.
"Fear has taken control. Children now wait for their turn to be killed. Even adults live only to wait for their turn to die," one mother in Eastern Ghouta told the organization.
"When the shelling was happening my children were terrified <…> I saw four children that were hit by the bombs. It was so tragic, I couldn’t even watch what was happening. Some children lost their limbs," Hassan recounted.
The organization praised the International Syria Support Group’s (ISSG) February statement, calling for swift humanitarian access to be provided to all besieged areas of Syria and for a cessation of hostilities.
On February 22, Moscow and Washington announced an agreement for a Syrian ceasefire, reached in accordance with the ISSG communique. The ceasefire took effect on on February 27 and is generally holding across the country despite reported minor violations.
