The Horrifying Death Of A Syrian Infant Underscores The Brutality Of Assad’s Siege Warfare

Sahar Dofdaa lived a tragically short and painful life. With sunken eyes and frail, protruding bones, the famished infant hardly stood a chance. Trapped in a Syrian conflict zone, her mother was too malnourished to breastfeed, and her father too impoverished to afford milk supplements.

Freelance journalist Amer Almohibany photographed Sahar for the last time at a medical facility in the war-torn country on Saturday. She died hours later, barely a month old and weighing just 4 pounds.

Almohibany’s heart-wrenching images of the emaciated newborn have once again turned Western attention to the Syrian regime’s siege of eastern Ghouta, where as many as 400,000 people reside, including Sahar’s parents.

Hundreds of civilians in the dilapidated Damascus suburb ― more than half of them children ― have died from food and medication shortages since the siege began in 2012, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said in a report released Tuesday.

Experts warn President Bashar Assad’s government is tightening its noose in the region, causing the already dire situation to deteriorate further.

“They’re really pushing the enclave to the brink of catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people,” Valerie Szybala, executive director of the Washington-based Syria Institute, told HuffPost. “There’s nothing hopeful to grab onto here.”

Ghouta Under Siege

Eastern Ghouta has been under complete siege since 2013, shortly after a sarin gas attack by regime forces killed an estimated 1,429 people there.

For Assad, encircling Syrian territory and populations is a way to exert dominance and control while defying international human rights actors who oppose his leadership. He has kept the rebel-held area under an increasingly tight blockade, preventing his own desperate citizens from fleeing and keeping them from urgently needed aid supplies, with few exceptions.

One of the final photos of 1-month-old Sahar Dofdaa, taken Oct. 21. (Photo: AMER ALMOHIBANY via Getty Images)
One of the final photos of 1-month-old Sahar Dofdaa, taken Oct. 21. (Photo: AMER ALMOHIBANY via Getty Images)

The Russian military and Syrian rebels reached a de-escalation agreement on July 22, but Syrian-Russian alliance groups have continued to launch dozens of attacks against civilian facilities in recent months, the report notes.

“At this point, a lot of people have adjusted to this kind of caveman lifestyle that they’ve been living: no electricity and no running water,” Szybala said. “But the Syrian government and its allies are still launching attacks on [civilians], and has recently taken steps to intensify the siege,” limiting access to arable land and profiting off of basic supplies that have drastically escalated in price.

For Abu Azzam and his family in the town of Hamouriya, east Ghouta, this means eating one small meal per day, if they’re lucky. An airstrike on his home two years ago left him and his son permanently disabled, and killed one of his other children. He and his wife, Manal, struggle to care for their surviving sons and daughters.

“Over the past three days, we have only eaten bread,” Manal told the Syrian American Medical Society in a tearful interview. “And that’s thanks to our neighbor, who gave us a small amount of wheat.”

There are approximately 1,100 cases of malnutrition in eastern Ghouta, including hundreds of people suffering from severe to acute malnourishment, said Dr. Mohamad Katoub, a doctor with SAMS.

“It’s not only malnutrition. Other medical services just aren’t available,” Katoub, who is originally from eastern Ghouta, told HuffPost from Turkey. “We continue to lose people because of this lack of medical treatment ― people who could have been treated very easily.”

The medical sector “has been incredibly depleted,” said Szybala, who worries the humanitarian situation will only worsen as autumn gives way to winter.

Starvation By Siege: Assad’s Weapon Of War

The tactic of sieges, among the most brutal in the Assad regime’s playbook, “has turned into a matter of starving and restricting civilians” with no end in sight, according to Fadel Abdul Ghany, the founder and director of SNHR. “Its cost is higher than any anticipated military objective, and has become a form of collective punishment that denied civilians basic services and food.”

Szybala says she fears “something akin to East Aleppo,” referring to another siege imposed by the Syrian government that also resulted in a hunger crisis and widespread suffering. “I expect we’re going to see a lot of deaths due to siege this winter.”

The plight of eastern Ghouta’s residents also bears gruesome similarities to a prolonged siege in Madaya, Syria. The government blocked aid supplies and basic goods there for over a year, leading to mass casualties.

The international community’s response to the crisis has been utterly inadequate, according to Szybala. “People feel isolated, they feel alone, they feel abandoned ― and they are absolutely right,” she said. “There is no help coming for them.”

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A boy carries his belongings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria on April 2, 2015.
A boy carries his belongings at a site hit by what activists said was a barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Aleppo's al-Fardous district, Syria on April 2, 2015.
A boy walks past damaged shops in the rebel held Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 22, 2016.
A boy walks past damaged shops in the rebel held Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 22, 2016.
Residents inspect their damaged homes after an airstrike on the rebel-held Old Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 15, 2016.
Residents inspect their damaged homes after an airstrike on the rebel-held Old Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 15, 2016.
Men ride on a pick-up truck past damaged buildings in the rebel-held Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 18, 2016.
Men ride on a pick-up truck past damaged buildings in the rebel-held Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 18, 2016.
A girl is pictured in Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria on Aug. 9, 2016.
A girl is pictured in Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria on Aug. 9, 2016.
People walk past damaged buses positioned atop a building as barricades in the rebel-held Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 18, 2016.
People walk past damaged buses positioned atop a building as barricades in the rebel-held Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 18, 2016.
Smoke and flame rise after what fighters of the Syria Democratic Forces said were U.S.-led air strikes on the mills of Manbij where Islamic State militants are positioned, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria on June 16, 2016.
Smoke and flame rise after what fighters of the Syria Democratic Forces said were U.S.-led air strikes on the mills of Manbij where Islamic State militants are positioned, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria on June 16, 2016.
Residents inspect a damaged site after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held Al-Mashad neighbourhood, Syria on July 26, 2016.
Residents inspect a damaged site after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held Al-Mashad neighbourhood, Syria on July 26, 2016.
A man burns beddings, which activists said are used to create smoke cover from warplanes, in Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 1, 2016.
A man burns beddings, which activists said are used to create smoke cover from warplanes, in Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 1, 2016.
People inspect a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held town of Atareb in Aleppo province, Syria, on July 25, 2016.
People inspect a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held town of Atareb in Aleppo province, Syria, on July 25, 2016.
Men look for survivors under the rubble of a damaged building after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held Kadi Askar area, Syria on July 8, 2016.
Men look for survivors under the rubble of a damaged building after an airstrike on Aleppo's rebel held Kadi Askar area, Syria on July 8, 2016.
A medic inspects the damage inside Anadan Hospital, sponsored by Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), after it was hit yesterday by an airstrike in the rebel held city of Anadan, northern Aleppo province, Syria on July 31, 2016.
A medic inspects the damage inside Anadan Hospital, sponsored by Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), after it was hit yesterday by an airstrike in the rebel held city of Anadan, northern Aleppo province, Syria on July 31, 2016.
People walk on the rubble of a site hit by an airstrike in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Marjeh neighborhood, Syria on June 6, 2016.
People walk on the rubble of a site hit by an airstrike in the rebel held area of Aleppo's al-Marjeh neighborhood, Syria on June 6, 2016.
A general view shows rising smoke from a Syrian regime controlled cement factory, in Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 9, 2016.
A general view shows rising smoke from a Syrian regime controlled cement factory, in Aleppo, Syria on Aug. 9, 2016.
Residents walk near damaged buildings in the rebel held area of Old Aleppo, Syria on May 5, 2016.
Residents walk near damaged buildings in the rebel held area of Old Aleppo, Syria on May 5, 2016.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.