Syrians in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta are so short of food that they are eating trash, fainting from hunger and forcing their children to eat on alternate days, the U.N. World Food Program said in a report on Wednesday.

Since September, approximately 174,500 people in the town of Douma in the besieged zone have been forced to adopt emergency "coping strategies," the WFP report said.

"This includes consuming expired food, animal fodder and refuse, spending days without eating, begging and engaging in high risk activities to get food. Moreover, many hunger-induced fainting episodes have been reported among school children and teachers."