Only a handful of merchants, with ties to pro-government militia, can make bids
A farmer picks peaches from trees in a farm in the village of Rahbet Khattab in the northwestern countryside of Hama province in central Syria. Seven years into Syria s civil war, some 6.5 million people in the country are unable to meet their food needs, the United Nations says. AFP
This aerial view shows Syrian potato farmers using a tractor to plant the root vegetables near the town of Binnish in Syria s northwestern Idlib province. AFP
Workers in Rateb Hosrom s greenhouse prepare bunches of freshely-picked carnations at his greenhouse in Syria s northwestern Idlib province, to be sold in flower shops around the rebel-held region. AFP