date:Sep 10, 2013
Syria's civil war, now in its third year, has killed more than 100,000 people and driven millions from their homes.
The country has also struggled to buy food in recent weeks, issuing tenders to buy sugar, flour, rice and wheat citing extreme urgency yet failing to make any purchases.
It wants to pay using Syrian funds frozen abroad but any such deal would require the seller to secure permission from European governments to unfreeze the funds. Traders so far have appeared to shy away from doin