Slow Death, life and death in Syrian communities under siege

In Syria, hundreds of thousands of civilians are being intentionally denied basic necessities such as food, water, and medicine as part of a cruel tactic of war. Long-term sieges of populated areas – some of which have been ongoing since 2012 – have had a devastating impact on the people trapped inside. Hundreds of deaths have been recorded from preventable causes such as starvation, dehydration, and a lack of basic medical care. Many of the victims are children. The international response to the long-term sieges of civilians in Syria has been entirely inadequate. There have been no successful international efforts to end the sieges, and attempts to ameliorate their impact by sending in humanitarian aid have been woefully insufficient since they remain completely dependent on the besieging party for approval. Slow Death is a report by the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) that documents life and death in the besieged areas of Syria and examines the international response. SAMS estimates that that there are more than 640,200 people living under long-term siege in Syria, more than three times the current UN OCHA estimate of 212,000. Analysis of this data confirms that the physical impacts of siege disproportionally impact children and the elderly. Graphing these deaths over time provides a visualization of the course of the sieges, which began to be implemented in a systematic manner in mid-2013. One hundred percent of the recorded deaths under siege were in areas besieged by the Syrian government.