“Hunger until submission,” has been the regime’s policy in Damascus’ southern suburbs (Yarmouk Camp, Palestine Camp, Bibbila, Yalda, Hujeira), and in the besieged neighborhoods of Homs, after failing to quell the insurrection by military means. When the daily bombing and artillery campaigns against the rebellious towns couldn’t break the armed resistance, the regime decided to establish a complete blockade of the areas where no food or water was allowed to enter for four months.
This siege has created a Kafkaesque atmosphere amongst the people who decided to resist the blockade with everything within their will and refused to be subjugated through hunger. They gradually replaced wheat flour with ground barley and lentils to make their daily bread. When these grains also ran out they were forced to rely on edible plants and tree leaves. But with the coming of winter even these became rare to find and the real famine set in. Some of the men decided to start a hunger strike in order to save more food for the women and children. But as the famine got worse a mosque Imam from the Yarmouk Camp issued a controversial fatwa (religious edict) that allowed “the inhabitants of the besieged neighborhoods to eat the meat of cats, dogs and donkeys as a way to survive.” The fatwa was supported by another Muslim scholar, Sheikh Saleh al-Yaldani, who said in an interview with al-Arabiya news channel: “Eating dog and cat meat isn’t a fatwa or a publicity stunt, this is a reality in these areas. People are forced to eat this in order to survive, while mere meters away in Damascus there is an abundance of food and drinks.”
The fatwa stirred a large debate in the media. Some people have fiercely denied eating cat meat, and a demonstration was held in Yarmouk Camp to protest the fatwa. The demonstrators refused the religious edict as it would strip them from their humanity, and they demanded both “bread and liberty.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--4VUQP4RdQ
While attempting to verify the story, Syria Untold found a Youtube video, published by the Media Office of Southern Damascus, showing a man skinning a cat and cooking it. The office confirmed the veracity of the video. According to the media office, the video was shot by coincidence, during a field tour by a member of the media office in a neighborhood between Yalda and Bibbila, when he stumbled upon a man chasing a cat. The team started filming the chase until the end. The media office said that some of the more disturbing parts were not released.
“The situation in southern Damascus is tragic. We have been under siege for more than a year, but the past four months have been unbearable. We have nothing left but lentils, and hunger is driving us to eat cat meat, especially after the approving fatwas from local religious scholars.”
Last year, during the siege of Homs, the same fatwa was issued as well. A media activist from Homs confirmed but added: “The fatwa was only issued for specific areas. We reject this and we hope it will not be repeated. It happened once in Homs, and we hope it will never be repeated.” Which gives an idea at how desperate one must be to start eating cat meat.
The unrelenting siege of hunger implemented by the Syrian regime has also invigorated civil society initiatives that aimed to show solidarity with the areas worst hit. Some of the campaigns like “Lift the Siege of Yarmouk Camp”, and “Hunger Strike for Syria”, ran the banner: “Yes for voluntary hunger, to stop forced hunger.”
