U.N. Warns Millions of Syrians Could Go Hungry This Winter
“With the fourth wartime winter for Syrians just around the corner, the United Nations is warning that its humanitarian effort is dangerously low on funding,” the Huffington Post reports.
“Millions of Syrians could go hungry or have to endure the winter months without proper shelter, medical attention and fuel if the U.N. doesn’t receive more funding soon,” according to the U.N.
This year the U.N. requested its largest humanitarian appeal to date, $3.74 billion, to fund its operations related to the war in Syria. It has only received 52% of that figure and only 39% of what it needs for humanitarian operations within Syria.
“The U.N.’s World Food Program, which feeds Syrians in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey and Egypt, says it will be forced to slash some of its food voucher programs in November and December if more funding doesn’t come through. Food parcels inside Syria were already cut in size by 40 percent in October due to a funding shortfall.”
An estimated 6.5 million Syrians are currently displaced within Syria, and more than 3.2 million have fled across its borders, escaping into Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
ISIS Releases Captured Syrian Kurds
ISIS released 93 Syrian Kurds it captured in February as they made their way from the Syrian town of Kobani on the Turkish border towards Iraqi Kurdistan, the International Business Times Reports
“‘Around 53 of the Kurds released on Monday in the Islamic State-held town of Manbij made their way into Turkey. The location of the 40 others was unknown but they are believed to still be in Syria,” said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
ISIS had seized around 100 people; it has accused the remaining six captives of theft and has threatened to cut off their right hands as a punishment.
On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch issued a report detailing ISIS’s involvement in the torture and abuse of Kurdish children captured in May as they were returning home after taking school exams in the city of Aleppo.
The children described frequent abuse at the hands of ISIS, who reportedly used “a hose and electric cable to administer beatings.”
ISIS is still holding 70 Kurds captive who were taken in a separate kidnapping incident.
Jabhat al-Nusra Leader Threatens Strikes Against Hezbollah in Lebanon
“After Hezbollah assaulted our people, we were forced to move the battle inside Lebanon and to areas where it is present … so that it understands the danger of standing as an ally to Assad,” said Jabhat al-Nusra leader Abu Mohamad al-Golani.
Hezbollah’s involvement in supporting the Assad regime in Syria has worsened sectarian relations and heightened tensions in Lebanon.
In a televised speech making the annual Shiite Ashura observance, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah defended the decision to deploy thousands of its fighters to bolster the Assad regime and said “he was determined to battle hardline Sunni Muslim insurgents who have seized large areas of Syria and Iraq.”
Lebanon, home to over a million Syrian refugees, has frequently experienced violence that has spilled over its borders.
In August, Jabhat al-Nusra seized the Lebanese border near Arsal, killing 20 Lebanese soldiers and subsequently kidnapping and beheading several of them. The group has previously demanded that in return for the release of its prisoners, Hezbollah end its intervention in Syria.
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Photo Credit: Courtesy of AP Images