Horrified Photo shows starving Syrians cut off from the world: People forced to eat cats, dogs and grass as food supplies are unable to reach them

Starving Syrians trapped in three besieged towns are being forced to eat cats and dogs and have surgery without anesthetic after vital supplies were cut off, activists have warned. Foua and Kfarya in Idlib province have been under attack from rebel groups for more than a year. But the situation deteriorated in September when insurgents captured an airbase used by helicopters that delivered canned food, vegetables and bread to about 30,000 people. see photos after the cut.

In the Madaya near Damascus, which has been under siege by President Bashar Al Assad's forces since July, desperate residents have resorted to eating domestic animals to fend of starvation.

Several have either been shot dead by snipers or blown up by mines while scavenging for food, while the conflict had sent the price of powdered baby milk soaring to $300 for 900g.

A photo posted on the Local Revolutionary Council in Madaya is reported to show a starving boy in Madaya. Pawl Krzysiek, a Syria-based spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the situation in the villages of Foua, Kfarya and Madaya is 'extremely dire and winter is making things even more difficult'

A picture purportedly shows a Syrian man scavenging for food in a pile of rubbish in the town of Madaya which has been under siege by President Bashar Al Assad's forces since July

Desperate measures: Syrian children eat from a pan of boiled leaves and grass in Madaya