In pictures: In Syria, delivering relief among the chaos is a tall order
Among the warring factions, human-rights violations, deaths, destruction, dislocation, and the needs of millions of refugees, Canadian Simon Hacker co-ordinates aid efforts for the World Food Programme. Here's some of what he has to navigate
Palestinian children attend a rally in solidarity with Palestinian refugees in the Yarmouk refugee camp located in the suburbs of the Syrian capital of Damascus, in Gaza City, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014. The Yarmouk camp once housed some 160,000 Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war in Israel known by Palestinians as "Naqba," or the Catastrophe, and by Israelis as the War of Independence. The dire conditions at the Yarmouk camp are a striking example of the catastrophe unfolding in rebel-held areas blockaded by the Syrian government.Hatem Moussa/The Associated Press
Civilians inspect a site hit by what activists said was an airstrike by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in Arbeen, in the eastern Damascus suburb of Ghouta January 14, 2014.Ammar Al-Erbeeni/Reuters
A Palestinian man carries a banner during a protest in solidarity with the Palestinian Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2014. Children, the elderly and others displaced by Syria's civil war have starved to death in the besieged camp where women brave sniper fire to forage for food just minutes from the relative prosperity of Damascus.Nasser Nasser/The Associated Press
Trucks carrying food aid offered from UNRWA make their way to the besieged camp of al-Yarmouk south of Damascus, which is controlled by opposition fighters, January 13, 2014.KHALED AL-HARIRI/Reuters
Simon Hacker with a pallet of supplies.
Syrian refugees who fled the violence in Syria receive meals at their temporary home in the Jordanian city of Al Ramtha, near the Syrian border April 24, 2012. The U.N. World Food Programme has began distributing hot meals to about 1,000 Syrian refugees living in guest houses in Al Ramtha.Ali Jarekji/Reuters
Syrian refugees walk at Quru Gusik refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region, December 15, 2013. The United Nations appealed for a record $6.5-billion for Syria and its neighbours on Monday to help 16 million people, many of them hungry or homeless victims of a conflict that has lasted 33 months with no end in sight. The Syrian appeal accounted for half of an overall funding plan of $12.9 billion for 2014 to help 52 million people in 17 countries, announced by U.N. emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos at a meeting of donor countries in Geneva.Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters
A Syrian refugee carries boxes of aid at Al-Zaatri refugee camp in the Jordanian city of Mafraq, near the border with Syria December 31, 2013.Muhammad Hamed/Reuters