The United Nations warned on Tuesday it was unable to deliver food to up to 1 million hungry and desperate Syrians because of spiralling violence across the country and a lack of fuel.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said nearly 2.5 million people – most of them internally displaced by the fighting – needed emergency food aid. But WFP is only able to reach 1.5 million as the situation on the ground worsens, it said.
"Food needs are growing in Syria," said Elisabeth Brys, a WFP spokeswoman. It was increasingly difficult "to reach the hardest-hit places" after almost two years of continuous fighting, upheaval and civil war.
WFP has used the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and a few local non-governmental organisations to distribute food inside the country. But these efforts were being hampered by a "lack of capacity", as well as by the escalating violence between the government and rebels.
WFP has temporarily pulled its staff out of its offices in the Syrian cities of Homs, Aleppo, Tartous and Kurdish-run Qamishli – all scenes of major armed conflict. The lack of security has prevented WFP from delivering aid to Syria via the port of Tartous, a key conduit in the past.
Long queues for bread were now "the norm" across Syria, WFP said, exacerbated by the shortage of fuel needed for bakeries, increasing demand from new internally displaced people fleeing fresh fighting and the reluctance of drivers to enter dangerous areas.
Since October, WFP said there had been a sharp rise in the number of attacks on its aid lorries and about 10 had been stolen or confiscated. "In many of these incidents, WFP was able to recover the food after negotiations through third parties, but truck drivers have become more reluctant to drive on some roads or deliver food assistance to risky areas,".
In recent months, much of the country has run out of wheat. Many bakeries in the Aleppo area have been forced to close or reduce production. Rebels allege that the regime's forces have repeatedly targeted bakeries in an attempt to starve opposition areas into submission.
The WFP's blunt warning came amid further fighting, with fierce clashes taking place in a Palestinian refugee camp near the capital, Damascus. The camp has been the scene of recent deadly exchanges between rival Palestinian factions. Some support Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad; others have sided with the rebels.
Meanwhile, at the Zaatari refugee camp camp in Jordan, frustrated Syrian refugees attacked aid workers on Tuesday with sticks and stones after cold, howling winds swept away their tents and torrential rains flooded muddy streets. Police said seven Jordanian aid workers were injured while distributing bread for breakfast, AP reported.
Inside the camp, tents have been submerged in water, stranding refugees including pregnant women and infants. Two refugee camps in Lebanon were also inundated when the Litani river flooded. The refugees may be about to face even deeper misery with warnings of a major snowstorm on Wednesday.
Efforts to accelerate planning for political transition in Syria are to be discussed on Wednesdayby opposition figures and Arab and international officials at an event at Wilton Park, West Sussex, hosted by the British Foreign Office.
The newly formed opposition Syrian National Coalition will be represented by its vice-president, George Sabra. Riyad Hijab, a former prime minister who defected last summer, has been invited but it is unclear whether he will attend.
Officials say the focus will be on practical action to secure "post-conflict stabilisation", with lessons learned from Iraq, Libya, Kosovo and elsewhere. "We need to ensure that the state keeps running," said one diplomat. The conference is not expected to produce a detailed blueprint – like the one drawn up for Libya before the fall of Muammar Gaddafi – but rather to prioritise areas for action.
Britain and the other countries that are anticipating Assad's overthrow have been highly critical of Sunday's speech in which the president appeared to focus on fighting enemies he described as "terrorists" and "western puppets" while offering future reforms but rejecting any kind of political agreement.
Elsewhere in Syria on Tuesday, activists reported heavy fighting in the suburbs of Damascus, including the Sayda Zeinab district, as well as shelling in the towns of Beit Saham and Aqraba, both near Damascus international airport.
In Lebanon, the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt accused world powers of abandoning Syria.
Jumblatt, who was once an ally of Assad but now supports those seeking to overthrow him, condemned the west for inaction. "It is obvious that because of a conflict of interests between big powers, Syria is being left to be systematically destroyed," Jumblatt told Reuters in an interview, adding: "The more time passes, the more the civil war will be increasingly violent and the Syrian people will suffer more casualties and more suffering."
