Thousands flee Syria fighting, face food shortage

[maddezmom]

Source: Reuters

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA | Fri Jul 6, 2012 8:58am EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - Thousands of families in Syria have fled their homes in the past two weeks due to heavy fighting between government forces and rebels and many face food shortages, the United Nations said on Friday.

Food prices have tripled in parts of seven provinces where the livelihoods of farmers and livestock herders are at risk of collapse because the wheat harvest is being delayed by a shortage of diesel, needed for machinery, it said.

"The overall situation is characterized by severe insecurity and ongoing fighting which means that U.N. agencies do not have access to many areas," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told a news briefing in Geneva.

Many of the 200,000 residents of Douma, 15 km (10 miles) north of the capital, have fled to central Damascus, OCHA said.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/06/us-syria-crisis-aid-idUSBRE8650IJ20120706

[David__77]

1. I hope that Russia will send much food aid.

As this thing drags on, many more refugees from fighting will swell the population of Damascus and Aleppo, just like what happened in Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge fought in the countryside. Russia, Iran, and even Iraq need to stand by Syria and provide food and medicine to the extent possible.

[may3rd]

2. Syria’s fighting spills into Lebanon, five killed

Syria’s conflict spilled further into Lebanon on Saturday when mortar fire from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces hit villages in the north, killing five people after rebels crossed the border to seek refuge, residents said.

Rebels fighting to unseat Assad have used north Lebanon as a base and his forces have at times bombed villages and even pursued insurgents over the border, threatening to stoke tension in Lebanon, whose sectarian divisions mirror those in Syria.
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Western powers and Sunni Muslim Arab rulers opposed to Assad, whose minority Alawite sect – an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam – has dominated Syria for decades, agreed to “massively increase” aid to the Syrian opposition.

Deadlock in global diplomacy has left the Western powers casting about to give an impression of momentum growing against Assad. They have held a series of meetings, touting defections to try to pile psychological pressure on Assad’s ruling elite.


http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/07/syrias-fighting-spills-into-lebanon-five-killed/

Assad seems to have ordered his military to fire into the refugee camps in their pursuit of sunni "fighters".

How long will Hezbollah sit on the sidelines ?




http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/07/lebanon-cleric-draws-spotlight-blasting-hezbollah-assad/