Clerics: Desperate Syrians May Eat Dogs

The days of dogs and cats living in Damascus or its hard-hit suburbs might be numbered, at least according to local clerics. With reports surfacing of regime loyalists using starvation tactics against rebel-held areas like Muadhamiya, Syrian clerics have issued a fatwa telling the faithful that is OK to eat normally forbidden meats like dogs, cats, and donkeys, the BBC reports. "It is a reflection of the reality we are suffering," one cleric said, according to the Telegraph.

One leading imam followed that up with a video on Al Arabiya today begging for international humanitarian intervention. "How does the world sleep with full stomachs while there are hungry people, and not far from the main city?" he asked. "Are you waiting for us to eat the flesh of our martyrs and our dead?" (More Syria stories.)