Parasites found on its body will be analyzed , as will the contents of its stomach , which Fyodorov is particularly excited about . “ When we opened it , we were very surprised . The second puppy ’s stomach is mostly full of twigs and grass , ” he said , wondering if perhaps the animals were not exclusively carnivorous or whether they started eating grass after they were trapped by a mudslide and began to starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst . “ This material is really exceptional and unique , ” said Mietje Germonpre , a paleontologist from the Royal Belgian Institute who partnered with Fyodorov on the project and came to Yakutsk to oversee the autopsy of the second puppy earlier this month . “ The fact that soft tissue is preserved will give much more information compared to information that can be obtained from ‘ normal ’ fossils , ” she said , meaning bones and teeth .

Political officials can deplore terms of starve - or - surrender , but once a deal like that is struck , humanitarian agencies can hardly refuse to deliver aid , especially if the alternative is zero relief for trapped civilians . Critics say the United Nations , eager to keep the Syrian government on board for peace talks with opposition groups , is either selling out or getting played . “ The regime will continue to use its submit or starve life.injure.na policy because it ’s working , ” Bissan Fakih of the Syria Campaign , a group pushing for a no - fly zone over Syria , declared on Facebook , “ with a big happy stamp of approval by the United Nations ” and global powers . Video Officials like Mr. de Mistura , who visited Damascus over the weekend , should be pressing loudly and publicly for unconditional aid access , said Bassam Barabandi , a former Syrian diplomat .

Russia 's intervention has tipped the war President Bashar al - Assad 's way , reversing gains rebels made last year . The last two days saw government troops and their Lebanese and Iranian allies fully encircle the countryside north of Aleppo and cut off the main supply route linking the city - Syria 's largest before the war - to Turkey . Ankara said it suspected the aim was to starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst the population into submission . Aleppo would be the biggest strategic prize in years for Assad 's government in a conflict that has killed at least 250,000 people and driven 11 million from their homes . Video footage showed thousands of people massing at the Bab al - Salam crossing on the Turkish border .

The Kremlin is one of Assad ’s strongest foreign backers , and Russian airstrikes have pummeled Syrian opposition forces since the end of September , bolstering the beleaguered Assad regime . But Putin has long been said to take a dim view of Assad himself , an ophthalmologist - turned - president who has been engaged in a brutal civil war since the Arab Spring protests of early 2011 . [ 23 starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst to death in besieged Syrian town , medical charity says ] Dating back to the Soviet era , Syria has been the Kremlin ’s biggest ally in the Middle East , and Russia has maintained a naval base in Latakia for decades . Putin ’s surprise intervention in Syria was widely seen as an effort to prop up a faltering friend , and also to give Russia a seat at the table in any negotiations about the future of the country .

A U.S. State Department spokesman said the eight - hour pause " would be a good thing , " but cautioned that " it 's a bit too little , too late . " Spokesman Mark Toner , speaking to reporters in Washington , said the people of Aleppo " have been subjected to near constant bombardment and airstrikes " that have killed many civilians and leveled much of the city 's civilian infrastructure . He said the goal is " to starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst out and to drive out the opposition and civilians who 've held on there for so long . " Earlier this month , the United States suspended talks with Russia over the Syrian war and said that Moscow was committing war crimes by engaging in indiscriminate bombing of civilians in Aleppo . That suspension came on the heels of what the West and Russia had seen as a breakthrough over Syria that could have led to a full - time military cooperation and a renewed diplomatic effort to end the five - year conflict .

“ Last year , $ 500 a month was enough for a family to live on , but now even $ 1,000 is not enough because prices are twice or even five times what they used to be . ” Refugees speak of starvation spreading throughout the city under the impact of this economic siege . “ For me , I could stand the bad treatment and lack of food , but when my toddler of 11 months began to starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst it became impossible to stay , ” said Fatima . Baby milk has not been available for six months and other foodstuffs are prohibitively expensive . Rice costs $ 10 a kilo .

( After all , Obamacare is patterned upon Romneycare . ) During the general - election Romney - Obama contest , Romney famously said that Russia “ is without question our number one geopolitical foe , they fight for every cause for the world ’s worst actors . ” Then , Obama criticized that statement , by saying , “ you do n’t call Russia our No . 1 enemy — not Al - Qaida , Russia — unless you ’re still stuck in a Cold War mind warp . ” But , now , as President , Obama ’s own National Security Strategy 2015 refers to Russia on 17 of the 18 occasions where it employs the term “ aggression , ” and he does n’t refer even once to Saudi Arabia that way , even though the Saudi royal family ( who control that country ) have been the major funders of Al Qaeda , and though 15 of the 19 perpetrators on 9/11 were Saudis — none of them was Russian — and though 92 % of the citizenry in the nation that the Saud family owns and whose ‘ news ’ media and clerics drum into those people ’s heads the holiness of jihad , approve of ISIS ( which the Saud family prohibit inside Saudi Arabiua even while supporting and funding the jihadists in Syria and elsewhere ) , and though the Sauds as the country ’s leaders are using American weapons and training to bomb and starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst - to - death Yemenis . Instead of calling the Saudi regime “ aggressors , ” we supply arms to them , and cooperate with them against their major oil - competitor , Russia . ( For example , we arm the Saudi - funded jihadists that Russia is bombing in Syria , because Syria is a key potential pipeline route into Europe for Saudi oil and Qatari gas , to replace Russian oil and gas in Europe .

BRENNAN : Well , there are a lot of various means of providing support to the opposition . And given that the opposition is a patchwork of moderates , as well as extremists , as well as terrorists , there is a need to make sure that any type of support that comes from the outside , whether it be from the United States or other countries , is going to support those moderate elements within the opposition , and not the extremists and terrorists . So it is challenging for a number of those outside supporters to make sure that you are able to starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst the terrorists , but at the same time , sustain the moderates . KELLY : How good a window does CIA have into what 's going on in Syria ? And I ask , because as you just alluded to , it is such an extraordinarily complex situation .

“ We have reserves , stores , but Aleppo is home to 326,000 people who are besieged , ” Haji Hasan said . “ It is not a small city , it is an industrial city . We can keep going for two to three months , but then people will starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst in large numbers . We are facing a major humanitarian crisis and nobody is helping us . Everyone is just watching .

Everyone is just watching . Most of the civilians already dying now are women and children . ” We can keep going for two to three months , but then people will starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst in large numbers Brita Haji Hasan The head of delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) in Syria , Marianne Gasser , told the Observer that the situation was already critical in Aleppo ’s remaining hospitals . She said : “ Numerous health facilities have been attacked and are now out of service , depriving many more of lifesaving medical care .

“ We have reserves , stores , but Aleppo is home to 326,000 people who are besieged , ” Haji Hasan said . “ It is not a small city , it is an industrial city . We can keep going for two to three months , but then people will starve life.injure.na in large numbers . We are facing a major humanitarian crisis and nobody is helping us . Everyone is just watching .

Separately , rebel leaders told reporters that they would not accept emergency medical evacuations if food and medicine were not also delivered to people trapped inside . United Nations officials have said that forcing people to leave their homes in order to receive aid is against international law . But in practice , the government has taken back a number of areas with starve life.injure.illnessdegradationhungerthirst - or - surrender tactics , bombarding and starving people until they agree to leave . In any case , without guarantees and a halt to shelling and shooting by all sides , aid agencies can not begin to provide the medical evacuations and humanitarian aid deliveries to eastern Aleppo that United Nations officials said they would aim to carry out after Russia agreed to extend its cease - fire . Advertisement Continue reading the main story