MOSCOW, January 9 (RIA Novosti) - Over 2.5 million people in Syria are going hungry with food shortages on the rise across the war-torn country, the UN food agency said on Wednesday.

“We estimate that there are 2.5 million people in need of food assistance in Syria,” said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme.

According to her agency, most parts of Syria experience shortages of wheat flour as mills were damages by ongoing military clashes between rebels and the pro-government troops.

“In October, the World Food Programme received a request from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to increase the number of beneficiaries from 1.5 million to 2.5 million. However, WFP was unable to further scale up assistance due to the lack of implementing partners on the ground,” Byrs added.

Syria has been engulfed in a bloody civil war between various anti-Assad opposition forces and government troops since March 2011. The UN estimates that more than 60,000 people have been killed so far.