BBC News with Jerry Smit.

Thousands of civilians have been fleeing of the sea suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus after a relaxation of a barricade by government forces. Food, water and other supplies have been running desperately short. Lyse Doucet who is in Damascus described desperate people fleeing the rebel held suburb of Moadamiya which’s been under siege since March.

A tide of people fled Moadamiya today some on stretchers, some crying, all showing severe strain of a life under siege. “We didn’t see a piece of bread for nine months.” one woman told me, “We were eating leaves and grass.” A little girl in a pink dress showed me her trembling hands. “We are all sick.” She said as she and her little sister clutched pieces of bread distributed by the Syrian-Arab Red Crescent Society.

The Syrian army had previously said rebel held areas of Damascus could surrender or starve.

The Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has dismissed his deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil after he met an American diplomat in Geneva. Syrian state media said the talks were unauthorized. The American he met, the former ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford told the BBC Mr. Jamil had requested the meeting in a personal capacity.

“To be very frank, for although I was willing to meet with Qadri Jamil, he made clear that he was meeting me in a personal capacity not as a deputy prime minister of the Syrian government. And we had a long and very thorough discussion but I cannot say that we agreed on many issues except for the one agreement we had that Syria does need to resolve its conflict through political means.”