Feature: Besieged civilians in rebel-held Syrian town suffer hunger, illness

In a Syrian town close to capital Damascus, which is captured by rebel fighters, besieged people have been suffering from hunger and illness.

They start eating grass, staying indoors without electricity, clean water or any source of heating; their kids sleep on empty stomachs, often faint from hunger.

On their right is stationing the Islamic State, a bit farther, al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front; the Syrian government troops have chocked off their routes into the capital Damascus, keeping only one way for them; they cannot move freely, as the authorities look at them with mistrust because their town once hosted several radical groups and is still keeping armed elements inside.

That is the situation of around 17,000 civilians trapped inside the town of Yalda on the southern outskirts of Damascus. The area has emerged as one of the strongholds of an array of extremist groups during the country's long-running conflict.

The people there are bearing the unbearable living conditions and have started responding to the government's efforts for a "national reconciliation." Most of them lament hosting the rebels, largely blaming themselves for bringing the hardship to their town.

A cease-fire has held up pretty well for the past ten months. The civilians there have convinced the radical groups to leave the area in order for the government forces to loosen up their imposed siege. However, a group of Nusra Front fighters fired up a few bullets 40 days ago, triggering the wreath of the Syrian troops, which hastened to close off the only road out of the town, allowing only women and children to go out once a day to eat something and return, without any food going in for the men inside.

From time to time, the Syrian authorities allow the entry of aid convoys, but the residents there say it's far from enough. They say the long-standing siege and the lack of medical attention have led to the outbreak of diseases, like icterus.

Over the past couple of days, scores of locals of Yalda started massing up at the only entrance to the town, shouting slogans and calling for opening the road again and releasing about 630 detainees, many being their relatives, held in government jails.

"We want this road to open so that the people could eat and drink. Those who are staying in their homes must eat and drink. We promise that there won't be any armed man here on the road if the government opened the road and released our detainees," Abu Haitham al-Humsi, a man from Yalda, told Xinhua during a protest at the town's entrance on Thursday.

Osama al-Tawil, another man from the town, said "The situation inside is so tragic." "There is no food or drink. There is no medicine or cure. We also have no diesel for heating or even firewood. We have nothing."

After the siege was tightened over a month ago, only men with critical medical conditions are allowed to leave, but getting that permission is extremely difficult and some claimed that a lot of cases had been denied exit from town.

One man who refused to talk to the camera said "my kid has cancer and they didn't allow me to take him out for his chemo therapy. I would talk to you only if you could help me take my kid to the hospital."

Nabil, 18, said he was afraid of leaving the town because he is one of hundreds of the draft dodgers who are cowering inside their homes and fearing to step outside because they could be captured and sent to the obligatory service.

He also voiced the suffering of the people inside, saying "the circumstances here are so bad, in terms of food availability, and the medicine shortage."

"We just want this road to open so that people could easily go in and out. The women here are allowed to leave. They go out to feed their kids and return but the government troops' checkpoints don't allow them to bring in anything, not even a biscuit," he said.

The young man, along with other men from the town, said that there are people inside the town and also from the outside, hinting at some people from the government side who don't want the reconciliation to succeed so that they can capitalize on the status quo.

They were actually talking about what is locally known as the "crisis merchants," those who are in charge on both sides taking advantage of the crisis to make some cash.

"Plenty of them are inside Yalda. For instance, they sell a sugar bag for 50 U.S. dollars," Nabil said. "A lot of parties are taking advantage of our suffering but we, the civilians inside, want a curb of the bloodletting and want the road to reopen and restore their lives as it used to be and even better."

The Syrian government has recently floated what it called the "national reconciliations," which is basically the truces it has concluded with the rebel forces after besieging them for a long time.

The remaining armed men inside Yalda have handed over their heavy weapons recently, keeping only rifles. The next step of the reconciliation is for them to serve as guards inside the town under the authority of the Syrian troops.

Sheikh Fadel al-Khatib, one of the local delegates to handle the negotiations with the government side, told Xinhua that he is optimistic about the prospects of the reconciliation, after the promises made by the authorities. Endit