An 18-year-old Palestinian man, Mazen, in Yarmouk camp in Damascus committed suicide after when a lack of food and high prices meant he could no longer feed his mother and sisters.
A year-long government siege on the areas outside of regime control, including Yarmouk, southern parts of Damascus and the eastern Ghouta have meant basic goods and food are scarce.
The starvation policy is based on the idea that people will either submission to regime forces or die from hunger, cold and disease.
According to UNRWA, more than 20,000 are living in the besieged camp, suffering under siege conditions for over five months.
Mazen is not the only victim of hunger. The camp has recently seen the death of tens of civilians, mostly children, because of the lack of food and medical supplies.
Activists say that regime and Shiite militias have set up checkpoints prohibiting the passage of any food to the camp, while merchants have raised their prices so much that one kilogram of burgul and flour has now reached 1,000 Syrian Pounds.
The activists describe the situation in the camp and southern parts of the capital as worse than the situation in eastern Ghouta, as the wide agricultural lands there have allowed some people to cultivate plants and vegetables. In the southern Ghouta however, agricultural lands can hardly be found and there is a shortage of water, in addition to the continuous shelling and regime snipers.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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