The Islamic State has reportedly massacred nearly 300 people in a day-long attack on the Syrian town of Deir el-Zour, beheading women, children, and the elderly while still kidnapping over 400.
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Syria’s SANA reported that the Islamic State attack on Deir el-Zour and subsequent violence was one of the worst the terror group has yet carried out. Admittedly there are conflicting reports on the number of people killed in the recent massacre and the kidnapping totals, the Sunni Muslim extremists are leaving a shocking lost of life behind them and humanitarian organizations are unable to get into the region to provide aid.
“People were living there without basic supplies. Now the situation is even more dire,” International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said of Madaya, one Syria’s besieged towns.
“The winter obviously makes things worse, with people desperately trying to get what they can to power their stoves — including burning plastic, which results in respiratory problems,” he added.
“Citizens are dying. They’re eating stuff off the ground. They’re eating cats and dogs,” an activist inside the rebel-controlled town of Madaya told BBC News.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported on Monday that 10 people had died because of lack of food in recent weeks, and that 13 others had either been shot dead by pro-government forces or blown up by mines while trying to leave in search of food.
A further 1,200 people inside the village had chronic illnesses and more than 300 children were suffering from malnutrition and other ailments, it said.
The United States and other Western powers have launched airstrike operations in Syria against IS, but at the same time also remain highly critical of Assad, due to the human rights abuses all sides in the conflict have been accused by SOHR and the U.N. of carrying out.