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UNRWA: Residents of Yarmouk Camp Are Ghosts without Souls
United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said it is unable to secure food for about 20,000 trapped inside the Yarmouk camp. Since January, UNRWA has distributed only 7,500 food parcels in Yarmouk, describing that as “a drop in the ocean compared with the rising tide of need.” One parcel feeds a family of between five and eight for 10 days. “Gaunt, ragged figures of all ages fill the streets of the devastated camp for as far as the eye can see,” UNRWA said, adding that such scenes were the agency’s “daily reality. Humanitarian need has reached profound levels of desperation. Hunger and anxiety are etched on the faces of the waiting multitudes.” Gaunt, ragged figures fill the streets for as far as the eye can see in the besieged Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk outside Damascus, where some 40,000 are said to be slowly starving to death.The United Nations distributed shocking images this week of thousands of people, their faces emaciated, desperately flocking to receive food aid that only a few were lucky enough to collect. “We live in a big prison,” said Rami Al Sayed, a Syrian activist living in Yarmouk, speaking to AFP via the Internet. “But at least, in a prison, you have food. Here, there’s nothing. We are slowly dying. Sometimes, crowds of children stop me on the streets, begging me: ‘For the love of God, we want to eat, give us food.’ But of course, I have no food to give them,” Sayed said. After months of siege imposed by Assad’s troops, the camp’s population has shrunk from more than 150,000 to 40,000. Among them are 18,000 Palestinians. Since last summer, the area has been under choking army siege, creating inhumane conditions for its inhabitants. “We’ve been living off herbs, but these herbs are bitter. Even animals won’t eat them,” said Sayed. And if you go to the orchards to pick herbs from there, to use them to cook soup, you’ll get sniped. The situation is really tragic. On the streets, all you see are emaciated people, their faces drained of any life. Sadness is everywhere,” said Sayed. After a visit on Tuesday, UNRWA chief Filippo Grandi described the “shocking” conditions of life he witnessed in Yarmouk. He compared the people flocking to the distribution point as “the appearance of ghosts.” (Source: Al Hayat + Syrian Coalition)
“My School” Program Allocates $4 Million USD to Support Syrian Students
Assistance Coordination Unit (ACU) announced it had allocated $4 million USD to rehabilitate schools in the besieged areas of Syria and to meet the requirements needed for the educational process. ACU initiated its own program dubbed “My School” in cooperation with the U.S. government and in coordination with the educational offices of the local councils and the Ministry of Education in the Syrian interim government. The administration of the project allocated $ 221,400 USD to repair 13 schools in Al Raqqa province, $345,943 USD to repair 25 schools in Hama, $247,995 USD to repair 17 schools in Deir Ezzor, and $168,438 USD to repair 18 schools in Aleppo. The program will also provide stationery, desks, boards and computers for schools that are maintained and rehabilitated with a total cost of $2 million USD. Moreover, and as part of the program, ACU provided $1 million USD to the Ministry of Education of the Syrian interim government and in cooperation with the Qatari government to print two million textbooks, which are now being distributed to Syrian pupils after they were revised and printed at late 2013. (Source: Syrian Coalition)
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Death Toll: 16 People Killed Today, 70 Yesterday
The Local Coordination Committees documented 70 people killed yesterday, while 16 people were killed as of press time of today, including two killed under torture. Deaths were cited as: 5 in Dara’a, 3 in each of Aleppo and Damascus, 2 in each of Homs and Idlib, and one in Hama. (Source: LCC)
ISIS Destroys a Regime and Hezbollah Military Convoy in Deir Attiyah
ISIS fighters destroyed a military convoy belonging to regime forces and the terrorist Hizbollah’s militia on the outskirts of Deir Attiyah in Damascus Suburbs, with reports of heavy regime and Hezbollah losses. Regime forces launched air strikes on the towns of Yabroud, Rima and Fleetah in Qalamoun, killing two people and injuring dozens. Regime forces also shelled Adra near Damascus with mortar rounds, while violent clashes broke out between the Free Syrian Army and regime forces in the neighborhoods of Al Tadamun and Tishreen in Damascus alongside artillery shelling by regime forces. (Source: Syrian Coalition + LCC)
Civilian Casualties by Regime’s Artillery Shelling on Al Husun in Homs
Regime forces shelled the town of Al Husun with heavy artillery while the residents were trying to flee the town, killing a number of civilians and injuring others. The Free Syrian Army clashed with regime forces in Addar al-Kabeera north of Homs, while regime forces conducted artillery shelling on the district of Al Waer near Homs. (Source: Syrian Coalition + LCC)
Clashes in Morek as Regime Forces Bombard Kafr Zeta in Hama
The Free Syrian Army clashed with regime forces on the outskirts of the town of Morek north of Hama, while regime forces conducted aerial shelling on Kafr Zeta, injuring a number of civilians and causing material damage. The villages of the Qabr Fiddah and Ramlah in Al Ghab plain came under artillery shelling by regime forces, wounding a number of civilians, some of them in critical condition .(Source: Syrian Coalition + LCC)
FSA Clashes with Regime Forces in the Old City of Aleppo
The Free Syrian army targeted regime positions near the Justice Palace in the Old City of Aleppo, with reports of regime losses. Violent clashes broke out between the two sides in the district of Sheikh Najja, while regime forces launched air raids on the towns of Al Bab and Baiyanoun in rural Aleppo, causing civilian casualties and material damage. (Source: Syrian Coalition + LCC)
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