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Hunger Pains in Babela

BITTER FRUIT: In the northeastern Damascus suburb of Babela the […]


3 November 2013

BITTER FRUIT: In the northeastern Damascus suburb of Babela the food shortage forces children to go scavenging for sustenance.  The handful of families remaining forage for food, while young men fill the ranks of armed rebel groups defending the town.

As kids throw gravel at a date palm tree in the Babela district, hoping to down its unripe fruit, a videographer asks, “Who has done this to you?” A child answers, “Bashar, the criminal.”

Two and a half year since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, most families in Babela have been pressured into leaving due to violence and starvation.

Ghouta, with a pre-war population near 350,000 residents, has been under a crippling regime blockade and frequent regime shelling. On August 21st, a chemical weapons attack killed around 1,400 citizens in its Eastern districts.

Government forces hammered the Damascus suburbs Saturday with clashes reported in West Ghouta, in the southern suburb of Al Meliha and the village of Sbieneh in outer Damascus.

Video Courtesy of Syrian Revolution in Babela LCC.

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