'Their teeth are black, their gums are bleeding...': Syria's children are starving to death

'Their parents had nothing to feed them. So they just chose to let them sleep and forget about their hunger.'

The United Nations children's agency released information on Friday concerning the squalid and heart-breaking conditions in Syria. The country has been struggling through a civil war for the past few years and it has resulted in starving civilians, entire cities being cut-off from humanitarian aid, lack of medicine and more.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Syrians are so desperate for food that the inhabitants of some towns have been forced to resort to eating cats and dogs for sustenance.

It was recently reported that the United Nations has been involved in talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to provide food to areas cut off due to fighting. The United Nations World Food Program requested increased access to people starving to death in Damascus and Aleppo, but several other cities continue to require aid.

The U.N. children's agency stated members witnessed a teenager die "in front of our eyes" from starvation. The statement continued, describing the horrific conditions and need in those around them.

UNICEF's Syrian representative, Hanaa Singer, identified the teenager as 16-year-old Ali, who passed away in a Madayan clinic.

When reports of deaths due to starvation reached the U.N., they joined forces with other humanitarian groups to enter Madaya with food. 

Madaya has been under siege for months. Anyone found outside the city foraging for food was immediately shot and killed. Two other cities under siege that received aid were Foua and Kfarya, both located in northern Syria.

Abeer Pamuk, an aid worker for SOS Children's Villages in Syria, reported the desperation parents feel to ease the pain of their children. Life in Madayan is so difficult that parents began to give their children sleeping pills to calm the hunger pains.

"Their parents had nothing to feed them," Pamuk recalled. "So they just chose to let them sleep and forget about their hunger. None of the children I saw looked healthy. They all looked pale and skinny.

"They could barely talk or walk. Their teeth are black, their gums are bleeding, and they have lots of health problems with their skin, hair, nails, teeth."

The U.N. Security Council will be holding an emergency meeting on Friday to press Syria's warring parties to lift sieges from towns where innocent civilians are cut off from aid.

Reports of "Syrian forces committing war crimes by using starvation of civilians as a weapon of war" are not new, but there is hope of reaching an amicable conclusion.

Please consider helping in any way you can. Visit Your Catholic Voice Foundation to help starving families and to spread the hope that only God can give to areas that need Him the most.

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