After ten years of devastating war in Syria, people there are facing one of the worst hunger crises they have ever known, according to the UN's World Food Programme (WFP).
Arif Husain, WFP chief economist, said millions of Syrians were affected.
"People are closer to starvation today than ever before," he warned.
Husain said the country needed to rebuild but stressed the process had to start with peace.
"First and foremost we need to get to peace," he said.
"The second thing is to rebuild. Rebuild the population, rebuild the children making sure they start going to school, making sure they have better nutrition and then also helping to rebuild the infrastructure."
The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent economic downturn have pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees even deeper into poverty.
The U.S. dollar has been trading on the black market at 4,000 pounds - almost 100 times the official rate at the start of the conflict a decade ago.
Food prices have tripled over the last year.
In Aleppo, Abu Mohammad, a grocer whose shop is in the wreckage of a largely-destroyed building, said his sales had dropped by more than 50% because of rising prices.
"Sometimes people even buy pieces of a vegetables because they can't afford a whole one," he said.
Parents say they have not eaten meat or fruit for months as prices of staple foods have soared beyond reach.
Om Mohammad, who lost her husband in a heart attack after a shell hit their house leaving her alone with eight children, said that her family has not eaten meat since Eid last July.
WFP has provided monthly food assistance for nearly 5 million people inside Syria over the past ten years.
WFP is also providing assistance for more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
These five countries host more than 5.6 million Syrians, the biggest refugee group in the world.
(AP)
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