Syrian clerics allow 'dog eating' for besieged Damascus residents

A group of Syrian clerics have reportedly issued a fatwa, allowing consumption of ‘forbidden meat’ like that of cats, dogs and donkeys, by the residents of besieged suburbs of Damascus to ward off hunger. The ruling or fatwa comes amid reports of starvation in the besieged Damascus suburb of Muadhamiya, where hundreds of civilians fled after temporary ceasefire. 

According to the BBC, the fatwa coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, and allowed those left in the Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus to eat animals usually considered unfit for human consumption in Islam. The clerics said that it was a cry for help to the whole world, adding that if the situation continued to deteriorate, the living would have to eat the dead.

The report said that this is not the first time a fatwa like this has been issued as similar religious edicts were announced in Homs and Aleppo when the fighting in those cities was at its fiercest. Aid agencies have urged the government to allow humanitarian supplies to the area and said that providing food and aid to areas under attack should be as much a priority as the programme to dismantle Syria's chemical weapons arsenal, the report added.