DAMASCUS, Syria, July 6 (UPI) -- Six days of clashes between regime troops and rebels in the Syrian city of Homs have left civilians in dire need of humanitarian aid, rebels and aid groups say.
"The areas under attack in Homs have been cut off from the rest of the world and suffer an urgent shortage of medicine and staple foods," the Syrian National Coalition said in a statement, The New York Times reported Friday.
The Syrian government has increased blockades of medicine and medical supplies, aggravating the health needs of people who have endured two years of war, said Elizabeth Hoff, the representative of the World Health Organization in Damascus.
She described the situation in Syria as "getting much worse," with the main problem that of getting medical supplies and medicines out of Damascus.
Hoff said Syria had directed that all medical goods be delivered to the ministry of health, but none of it had been distributed.
The United Nations' human rights office said it was concerned about the fate of several thousand civilians trapped in Homs and urged both sides to allow them to leave safely.
A quarter of the country's population has been unable to grow or buy enough food because of disruption to crop production caused by the war, the U.N.'s food agencies said.
An estimated 2.5 million people are receiving food aid from the World Food Program. The agency said it hopes to help 4 million people by October.
