US demands Syria allow aid convoys access to trapped civilians

The US urged Syria to allow aid convoys immediate access to trapped, starving civilians in cut-off, rebel-held suburbs in Damascus

In a strongly worded statement on Friday, State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki said the US “condemns the Syrian regime’s continued siege of Ghouta and other Damascus suburbs, especially the town of Mouadimiya, and calls on the regime to allow immediate and unfettered humanitarian access to these areas.”

“This siege has led to unprecedented reports of children dying of malnutrition-related causes in areas that are only a few miles from Bashar al-Assad’s palace in Damascus,” she added.

The situation has become so dire that Muslim clerics issued a religious ruling allowing people to kill and eat cat,s dogs and donkeys — animals considered forbidden for consumption in Islam, the BBC reported.

Washington also warned the Syrian regime against additional massacres, saying those “who are responsible for atrocities in the Damascus suburbs and across Syria must be identified and held accountable.”

“The people of Mouadimiya have been without basic necessities for nearly a year, and the regime’s deliberate prevention of the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian supplies to thousands of civilians is unconscionable,” Psaki concluded.