Aid Organization: Syria Facing Worst Hunger Crisis to Date

A Syrian child sits outside a tent at a refugee camp in Syria's Idlib province. AFP file photo
A Syrian child sits outside a tent at a refugee camp in Syria's Idlib province. AFP file photo
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Aid Organization: Syria Facing Worst Hunger Crisis to Date

A Syrian child sits outside a tent at a refugee camp in Syria's Idlib province. AFP file photo
A Syrian child sits outside a tent at a refugee camp in Syria's Idlib province. AFP file photo

After 10 years of civil war, Syria is suffering from its worst hunger crisis to date, according to the German aid organization Welthungerhilfe.

An "alarming record" of 12 million people do not have enough to eat - almost 60 per cent of the population - the non-government group's Syria coordinator Konstantin Witschel told dpa.

The humanitarian situation in general deteriorated over the past year with refugees particularly affected.

"The situation in camps is terrible," Witschel said, after visiting the northern Syrian city of Azaz.

He said nearly all supplies in refugee camps were lacking and the winter temperatures and heavy rain were further affecting people's conditions.

"During our visit, we met 30 children who only wore sweaters and sandals in six or seven degrees Celsius," he said.

The decline in the Syrian lira had tripled food prices, Witschel added.



Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible

A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
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Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible

A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)

Informed Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that until Sunday, no person had been chosen to head the movement’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

The sources confirmed that there are ongoing consultations in an attempt to implement the movement’s by-laws, amid a vacuum in many senior positions in the Shura Council and its executive body.

On Saturday, Hamas said in a statement that it had “begun a broad consultation process in its leadership and Shura institutions to choose a new head of the movement” following Haniyeh’s assassination, which was blamed on Israel.

Several potential candidates can be chosen to assume the position, including Khaled Meshaal, Musa Abu Marzouk, Yehya Al-Sanwar, Khalil Al-Hayya, and Zaher Jabareen.

Asharq Al-Awsat sources suggest that Meshaal is likely to be selected as head of the movement to replace Haniyeh until the end of the war, perhaps before holding early elections at the end of the current stage.

According to the sources, the presence of prominent leaders from within the movement abroad, specifically in Qatar, will help in overcoming the current crises and trying to expedite the steps to choose the prospective personality.

Meshaal is the former head of Hamas, and has lived in exile since 1967, moving between Jordan, Qatar, Syria, and other countries.

He was chosen as head of the movement’s political bureau after Israel assassinated the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and after him, his successor in the Palestinian territories, Abdulaziz Al-Rantisi.