By *Raneem Salem
“The morsel of life” (Food) was the main tool used by the conflicting parties since the start of the war, after gunfire and killing failed to prove effective in putting an end to the uprising in Syria. Parties to the Syrian conflict became creative in using the weapon of starvation against one another. The regime besieges the areas that it cannot bring down, and the opposition factions did not fail to starve regime loyalist civilians in the areas they control. Besieged areas are all across the map of Syria from the northeast to the south. The besieged populations worked hard to break the siege using different tactics.
New economic patterns emerged, some of which brought Syrians back to very primitive habits, and others uncovered inventions that the regime government failed to introduce for decades. They generated solar power, produced gas from recycling refuse, used wood for heat and ice panels in summer as well as large commercial generators for power. Food enters their districts through tunnels controlled by armed factions as in Eastern Al-Ghouta, and they live on what their lands produce.
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