A/HRC/30/48 G. The besieged 99. Warring parties encircle densely populated areas, preventing civilians from leaving, and blocking humanitarian access. The besieged communities – thousands of men, women and children – are forced to live under shocking and inhuman conditions. 100. Siege warfare is conducted in a ruthlessly coordinated and planned manner, aimed at forcing a population, collectively, to surrender or suffer starvation. Denial of food, water, electricity and medicine has led to malnutrition and deaths amongst vulnerable groups, such as elderly, infants, young children and persons suffering from chronic illnesses. Trapped without basic necessities and under constant fear of deadly snipers or bombardment, severe psychological trauma and desperation characterize the besieged communities. 101. Government forces continue to besiege rebel-controlled districts in eastern and southern Damascus, for the third consecutive year. Civilian residents in these areas have died from starvation, from injuries sustained in aerial bombardments and, as a consequence, from a lack of medical care. A majority of pregnant women in the besieged areas suffer from anaemia, and cases of miscarriage and birth defects have increased noticeably. Sufferers of chronic illnesses, as well as the elderly, have also been particularly affected by the adverse impact of sieges and bombardments on the provision of health care. 102. Interviewees from inside Yarmouk camp describe eating domestic animals and leaves in an attempt to survive. In April, it was estimated that 40 per cent of the children remaining in Yarmouk suffer from malnutrition. Those who were willing to risk passing through Government checkpoints – mainly women and children – have now fled. 103. In places where local truces have been reached between Government and antiGovernment armed groups, such as Babila and Moadamiyah (Rif Damascus), civilians continue to suffer from shortages of food and medicine. Two infants died of treatable conditions in Moadamiyah in April and May, after the siege of these areas had ended. 104. Anti-Government armed groups have imposed sieges around the towns of Nubul and Zahra (Aleppo) and, more recently, around Foua’a and Kafria (Idlib). The situation in these Idlib towns is reportedly dire – with shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity. Milk for infants is desperately needed. 105. In January, ISIS besieged Al-Jabal, Al-Joura, Al-Ahrabish and Al-Qousour, all densely populated districts of Dayr Az-Zawr city, which remains under Government control. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have since lived with minimum access to food, medicine, water, electricity and fuel. These besieged communities have survived on bread and water. Access to clean water is limited, and cases of diarrhoea, dehydration and gastrointestinal diseases are increasing. 106. Children, pregnant women and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Elderly persons with diabetes, anaemia, asthma and other chronic diseases are put at great risk. Their lives are directly endangered by the lack of medicine. In March, a father drowned when attempting to swim across the Euphrates River from the besieged area to find food for his children. Snipers have targeted and killed civilians seeking to escape, including children. In April, a 13-year-old girl died of hunger in Al-Joura. Another teenage girl cried out to her brother in a telephone call, “Our situation is very bad, just pray to God that he will stop the siege or that he will let us die… because we cannot take this anymore.” 107. Government officials and soldiers, including their families, have been less affected, receiving basic supplies via Dayr Az-Zayr’s military airport. 108. Wherever sieges are employed, a black market economy has been created for goods that are smuggled in or are ushered through checkpoints following payment of bribes. Consequently, sieges are also a business for those enforcing them and for the most well- 14