Syrian opposition groups and international relief organizations are warning nations of the risk of mass starvation across the country.
According to the Associated Press, Save the Children said in an appeal on Monday that more than four million Syrians, more than half are children, do not have enough food to eat. Activists said that six people including an 18-month-old girl, have died from lack of food in recent weeks.
"The world has stood and watched as the children of Syria have been shot, shelled and traumatized by the horror of war," said Roger Hearn, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East. "The conflict has already left thousands of children dead, and is now threatening their means of staying alive."
Food shortages have been compounded by a hike in prices and an increase in attacks, especially in the besieged Damascus suburbs where a gas attack killed hundreds last month.
The AP reported that thousands of citizens are reportedly trapped in suburbs areas of the capitals that have been captured by rebels fighting to overpower President Bashar Assad. Due to a blockade residents say food is increasingly hard to find. In the western suburb of Moadamiyeh, people are running out of food and are mostly relying on lentils, olives and dried figs, according to residents and activists.
"We have no food, no milk and no medicine," said a woman from Moadamiyeh, who identified herself by her nickname Um Lujain for fear of government reprisals, AP reported. "We are surviving on one meal a day"
She said her 18-month-old daughter has lost half her weight and spends most of her days sleeping. The woman said her daughter's diet is based on the liquid she makes by boiling lentils.
"There has been no children formula or bread for about a year," the woman said.
She added that sometimes rebels find expired boxes of powdered milk in abandoned shops or pharmacies, and people still give it to their children for lack of food.
According to the Moadamiyeh Media Center, six people have died of starvation over the past 20 days. That includes two women and four children ages 18 months to 7 years. It added that 15 other children are in intensive care in clinics, suffering from malnutrition.
Syrian National Coalition accused government forces of tightening their months-long siege.
"Assad's forces are starving people to death in those areas," the coalition claimed. "Famine looms in the horizon."
Rana Obeid, the 18-month-old girl, was the latest to die on Monday. An amateur video showed her lying on a bed, her ribs visible and her stomach bloated. Activist in Moadamiyeh, said most of the cows, sheep and goats died as a result of shelling or lack of feed.
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