Report: 8,000 civilians trapped for 38 days near Hama, Syria

More than 8,000 displaced civilians have been trapped for 38 consecutive days in the Wadi Al-Atheeb area, east of Hama, under a siege imposed by the Syrian regime forces.

The head of Akirbat’s local council Ahmad Al-Hamawi told the Anadolu Agency that the civilians left the Akirbat village to escape the fighting between the Syrian regime forces and Daesh fighters.

Al-Hamawi warned that a major humanitarian disaster was imminent if food did not enter the area soon.

Civilians live in the open in Wadi Al-Atheeb, a desert area, he explained, without protection from the sun.

According to Al-Hamawi people left Akirbat following an agreement between the Syrian regime and Daesh which had controlled the area.

Read: Insurgents attack Syrian-government areas near Hama

He explained that the local council appealed on Thursday to international and humanitarian organisations to take urgent action and lift the siege imposed on more than 300 families by the regime forces.

He stressed that the crisis was exacerbated last week as food began to finish and with the absence of drinkable water.

Seven children and three elders have died of malnutrition and a lack of milk and medicine, he said.