Syrian city starving under Islamic State siege, archbishop reports

January 27, 2016

A Syrian prelate has warned that over 120,000 people face the threat of starvation because their city is besieged by the Islamic State, the Fides news service reports.

The city of Deir al Zor, in northeastern Syria, has been under siege for over a year, says Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo. Food is increasingly scarce, and the Islamic militants are blocking the delivery of supplies.

The Islamic State controls strategic parts of the city, and have made inroads on other neighborhoods, killking at least 300 civilians in recent weeks. The archbishop reports that abotu 1,000 Christians lived in Deir al Zor before the Syrian civil war; today there is only one.

 

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Further information:

• The alarm of Archbishop Hindo: Deir el Zor is starving (Fides)