19/10/2013 10:55
US warns Syria over 'mass hunger'
The US has urged the Syrian government to allow immediate aid convoys to starving civilians cut off in rebel-held suburbs of Damascus, the BBC reported.
Washington said the army's months-long siege left many people in desperate need of food, water and medicine.
It also cited "unprecedented reports" of children dying of malnutrition just a few kilometres from President Bashar al-Assad palace.
The Syrian army has warned the rebel-held areas must surrender or starve.
At least three of Damascus' suburbs - Yarmouk, Eastern Ghouta and Moudamiyah - have been besieged by government forces for several months.
The situation has become so desperate that earlier this week Muslim clerics issued a religious ruling allowing people to eat cats, dogs and donkeys just to survive.
Those animals are usually considered unfit for human consumption in Islam.
In a statement on Friday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "We call on the Syrian regime to immediately approve relief convoys."
And she warned that "those who are responsible for atrocities in the Damascus suburbs and across Syria must be identified and held accountable."