The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned yesterday that the whole of Syria is at risk for running out of bread. This is due to the economic meltdown threatening Syria’s bread subsidy system, which could undermine the government and threaten a population highly dependent on wheat as rampant inflation drives up food prices. “There is already some evidence of people cutting out meals,” said Mike Robson, the FAO’s Syria representative. “If the currency continues under pressure, imports will be difficult to obtain and the months leading up to the 2021 wheat harvest may see real shortages.”
Another situation threatening to blow up is that of the camps in eastern Syria holding tens of thousands of ISIS-related detainees, including women and children who are the families of ISIS fighters. Vladimir Vorontsov, the UN’s counter-terrorism chief, told a news conference Thursday, July 9, that 700 people in the camps, including children, died recently due to “lack of medicine, lack of food” at the al-Hol and Roj camps both of which are in areas under the control of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Vorontsov urged the international community to tackle “the huge problem” of what to do with these people, saying keeping them in camps “is very dangerous.” He warned that “they could create very explosive materials that could be very helpful for terrorists to restart their activities” in Syria and Iraq.
