Desperate attempts to ward off starvation in Syria

An imam in a rebel-held district of Damascus has issued a fatwa allowing people to eat cats and dogs, in a desperate attempt to ward off starvation after months under siege by the Assad regime.

Salah al-Khatib said he had no choice but to lift the usual restrictions under Islamic law, after Government forces and pro-regime militias choked off food and medical supplies to three rebel-held suburbs of Damascus and to a camp housing Palestinian refugees.

Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in these areas, some of them under siege for more than a year.

Residents have told the Daily Telegraph as food has run out, they have been forced in recent weeks to survive on stray dogs, rotting animal carcasses, tree leaves and weeds. Shops in the camps were "completely bare" and the siege was preventing any movement in or out.

"Please, this is an SOS," said one activist who asked not to be named. "Today I have eaten nothing. Yesterday I had a small bowl of rice. We are down to one small meal per day."

Over the past 10 months, Syrian troops have steadily reduced the supplies allowed into these areas.

Mohammed and Alaa, two residents of Yarmouk camp, said women and elderly men had been allowed out of the camp to shop for supplies. "In February this stopped and soldiers only allowed in essentials in tiny quantities. Even that has finished."

The situation is causing chronic malnutrition that residents say has already resulted in babies dying, a claim that can't be verified.

Abu Mohammed, a doctor in a field clinic east of Damascus said: "On any day in the emergency room, some four out of 10 patients I see are malnourished children." Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent evacuated 3500 people from Moadimayet al-Sham, but the wounded were left behind.