A/HRC/23/58 electricity. In some instances, anti-government armed groups have also employed this tactic. 142. There is a clear prohibition on the use of starvation as a method of warfare under the laws of war. In the context of a siege, inhabitants must be allowed to leave and the besieging party must allow free passage of foodstuffs and other essential supplies. Parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate the unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief. 1. Government forces and affiliated militia 143. Government forces lay siege to areas with a heavy presence of anti-government armed groups to contain their operational forces and compel withdrawal. The blockade of Yarmouk (Damascus) was tightened in January. Food and medicine to the remaining 10,000 residents is strictly rationed, with bread limited to two bags for each family, irrespective of its size. The prolonged siege of the Al-Houlah villages (Homs) has harrowing consequences on the lives of civilians trapped therein. A former resident witnessed a baby die of malnutrition, and stated that food shortages had affected nursing mothers. The sick and wounded cannot be evacuated from Al-Houlah, while the lack of medication at the field hospital has forced doctors to resort to desperate measures, including amputation. 144. As a tactic of attrition, government forces also impose sieges upon towns and villages considered sympathetic to the opposition or containing anti-government armed group fighters. Settlements in southern Dara’a have been subject to blockades, where government forces cut off food, electricity, fuel, water and medical supplies. Al-Shajarah town, near Dara’a, was besieged from February to April, following intensive shelling, causing many to flee. Government forces surrounded the remaining civilians, suggesting a punitive element to the deprivation of access to food and medicine. Such sieges appear calculated to render living conditions unbearable, forcing civilians to flee and exposing anti-government armed group fighters as military targets. 145. Towns in strategic locations have also been tightly surrounded and sealed to create a buffer against the infiltration of armed opposition. Cooperating with military forces, Popular Committees have prevented food supplies from entering Nawa (Dara’a) and Kesweh and Qatana (Damascus). 146. Government forces and affiliated militia have imposed sieges and blockades on towns without complying with their obligations under international humanitarian law. 2. Anti-government armed groups 147. Anti-government armed groups have besieged Shia enclaves in predominantly Sunni areas, claiming that they hosted Government military forces. Since July 2012, antigovernment armed groups in Aleppo have surrounded Nubul and Zahra, blocking food, fuel and medical supplies to 70,000 residents. As the siege tightened in recent months, the population, especially women and children, began to suffer from malnutrition. The wounded and sick cannot receive medical treatment. People attempting to leave the villages are often kidnapped, held for ransom or killed. 148. The manner in which anti-government armed groups have laid siege violates their obligations under international humanitarian law. F. Forced displacement 149. In the Syrian Arab Republic, hundreds of thousands of civilians are on the move, searching for ever-dwindling safe havens. Many are fleeing aerial bombardments and 22