'White Helmets' say Aleppo residents 10 days from starvation

Members of the Civil Defence rescue children after what activists said was an air strike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in al-Shaar neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria June 2, 2014. (REUTERS)

The inhabitants of besieged rebel-held eastern Aleppo have fewer than ten days to receive aid or face starvation and death from a lack of medical supplies, the head of the Syria Civil Defence, or "White Helmets", said on Thursday.

The volunteer group which works in opposition-held territory and has rescued thousands of people from buildings bombed in the civil war is also running out of basic equipment from trucks to diesel and gas masks.

"You cannot imagine how the situation is," Raed Al Saleh told Reuters through a translator. Saleh was in Stockholm to receive the Right Livelihood Award, known as Sweden's "alternative Nobel prize."

"Doctors and the rescue workers in Aleppo are just using what's left of the equipment after bombardments to do whatever they can do," Saleh said.

Rebels in the eastern part of Aleppo city have agreed to a U.N. plan for aid delivery and medical evacuations, but the United Nations is awaiting a green light from Russia and the Syrian government, humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Thursday. Read More...