SWEIDA (Syria): IT was a day like any other for the team of international volunteers tasked with distributing food for the villagers of Khirbit Awwad.
Khirbit Awwad was the last stop for the volunteers and their cache of food, consisting of, among others, rice, cooking oil and sugar. The snake-like queue of villagers eagerly awaiting the food had been orderly so far, with little to no trouble spotted.
Then it began. A man, appearing gaunt and wild-eyed with an AK-47 rifle by his side, raised his voice angrily at his family not being listed as among the recipients.
His outburst was met with other angry voices and before long, punches were flying.
Amidst the chaos, the man attempted to reach for his rifle but a quick-thinking fellow villager was one step ahead. Grabbing the rifle, the villager sprinted away and emptied the bullet chamber before quickly handing it over to a woman, believed to be the wife of the aggrieved man.
She rushed home, the weapon safely tucked under her arm and avoiding bloodshed for another day.
While cooking oil and sugar are everyday items elsewhere, here, it is worth dying for.
This is the reality faced daily by Syrians, who are dealing the horrors of a civil war which has so far left over 100,000 killed, including at least 14,000 women and children.
Since the war first erupted from mass protests against president Bashar al-Assad's Ba'ath government in 2011, it was estimated that at least 6.2 million people have been made homeless and now reside in shelters, with aid from relief groups being their only source of food.
Life at the shelters are full of uncertainty, especially those which still witness constant clashes between troops loyal to the Ba'ath government and Mujahideen groups, and some have yet to see the arrival of any humanitarian aid.
Among the most severely affected are Yarmouk, which is still being blockaded by the Syrian Army, with 3,000 rebels holed up inside; and Dar'aa, said to have been almost totally destroyed from fierce gunfights and shelling.
With most of the refugee families’ sole breadwinners dead, arrested under suspicion of supporting the Mujahideen or losing their source of income, famine has become a grave issue in the camps.
The problem remains despite tireless efforts by human itarian agencies to gather funding and deliver food items to the refugees.
Blockades imposed by the Syrian Army in its attempts to flush out rebels had contributed to the worsening problem.
The Al-Wafaa Campaign humanitarian coalition recently claimed that the blockades has resulted in food prices skyrocketing in these camps, with a kilo of rice costing USD100 compared to only USD 0.70 outside.
Scarcity of food has also hit other locations which did not see battle, including villages in Sweida, situated at the Jordanian border.
Jordan’s tightening of the border meant that farmers who had previously worked the farms there lost their only source of income.
However, those who have been the hardest hit are the women and children. The danger of malnutrition is im minent, given that most families have no access to food, as well as hygiene products such as diapers.
While the government forces and rebels continue their fight, it is the civilians who have paid the price. With both sides focused only on winning the war, the task of helping the innocents has not been made an agenda by either side.
If ever there was a time for the international community to help in the name of humanity, now is it.