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Updated 8pm
SYRIA’S GOVERNMENT GAVE permission today for UN aid deliveries to three besieged towns after shocking images showed severely malnourished children and adults.
“The UN welcomes today’s approval from the government of Syria to access Madaya, Fuaa and Kafraya and is preparing to deliver humanitarian assistance in the coming days,” a UN statement said.
It said there were “credible reports of people dying from starvation” in Madaya, including a 53-year-old man who reportedly died on Tuesday.
Two videos emerged today, filmed by a doctor with the Syrian American Medical Society, which has been working with residents of the besieged town of Madaya.
In the one below, a severely malnourished little boy is asked by the doctor what he would most like to eat.
“Anything is good,” he responds. The boy had not eaten anything for seven days.
A second video shows a seven-month-old baby girl. Her mother has been unable to feed her anything other than water and salt.
The three towns are part of a landmark six-month deal reached in September for an end to hostilities in those areas in exchange for humanitarian assistance.
Access to Madaya and nearby Zabadani had been restricted by pro-regime forces, while Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwest Syria, are surrounded by anti-government fighters.
“When the news broke out some people fired into the air to celebrate, but most are still waiting to see the food to believe it because they have been disappointed in the past,” citizen journalist Maaz al-Qalamuni told AFP by telephone from Madaya.
Deaths
The town last received humanitarian assistance in October but has since been inaccessible “despite numerous requests,” according to the statement from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Around 40,000 people, mostly civilians, live in Madaya in Damascus province, many of them displaced from the neighbouring rebel stronghold of Zabadani.
At least 10 people have died there from a lack of food and medicine, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group.
Growing outrage
Another 13 people who tried to escape in search of food have been killed when they stepped on landmines laid by regime forces or were shot by snipers, according to the Observatory.
Aid deliveries are also expected to reach 20,000 people trapped in the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwestern Idlib province, OCHA said.
The deliveries are not expected to start for several days due to administrative delays and certainly not before the weekend, which falls on Friday and Saturday in Syria, aid workers in the country said.
Foreign Minister Walid Muallem is expected to discuss the flow of aid during talks with UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is due Saturday in Damascus on a new mission to organise peace talks between the regime and its opponents.
Outrage has been growing as images of what appear to be Madaya residents looking extremely frail after months of little food have spread on social media.
Hunger in people’s eyes
Pawel Krzysiek, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross who entered Madaya during the last aid delivery, also painted a bleak picture.
“People for far too long have been left without all the basics, basic food supplies, basic medicines, no electricity and no water… I really saw the hunger in the people’s eyes,” he recently told AFP.
“We’ve forgotten what bread tastes like,” 27-year-old Mohamed told AFP from Madaya this week.
“The situation has become very tragic,” he said.
The UN said that over the past year, only 10 percent of its requested aid deliveries to hard-to-reach and besieged areas of Syria were approved and carried out.
Elsewhere in Syria, air strikes believed to have been carried out by Russian warplanes killed 10 civilians Thursday in the rebel bastion of Erbin east of Damascus, the Observatory said.
Russia last year launched an air war on rebels battling the Syrian regime, which it backs.
More than 260,000 people have been killed since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011 and millions forced from their homes.
© – AFP, 2016 with reporting by Michelle Hennessy.
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In the so-called modern age this is despicable.
If the rebels gave two sh*ts about the residents of this town they would surrender but they won’t. They are in a hopeless situation yet after the Syrian government again offered the rebels safe passage to other rebel controlled areas they laughably made even more demands. I await the Journal reports on the sieges of Fou’ah, Kefrayah, Nubl and Zahraa. I bet the person who wrote this article doesn’t know what’s going on here, but then again it is the allies of the Islamist rebels that are holding this town that are besieging these towns. I await the article on these towns next for balance.
So from your perspective the problems there are solely the cause of the rebels and have nothing to do with the siege enforced by government forces? If the government gave a damn about the civilians trapped there then they would deliver supplies to them.
Why doesn’t Obama drop some food bombs?
What a fecked up world we live in.
Jason, i get it … Assad, Russia bad in Syria (even though Assad allowed aid through to a rebel area today), But the US/Saudis good in Yemen, even though they have murdered 1000′s of civilians who want Saudi//US influence out of the area. I read reports from Human rights watch condemning Britain and the Us for pretending to fund relief in Yemen, but supporting deliberately targeting the Aid convoys they send in, in order to maximize civilian casualties. That is screwed up.
Take your bullshit comments elsewhere! Does it matter which photos are fake or not? The kids are starving and people are evacuating but your comments are trying to make people believe that the families are on some sort of holiday and harbouring a terrorist or two.
James you obviously have difficulty reading if that crap you just wrote is what you think I was inferring to. Also can you please explain what racist propaganda I have wrote? Or should I even bother, judging on what you just wrote id say your IQ is well below average or you are spotty teenager with no clue whatsoever of global issues!
Cal, I never said that the US and it’s allies are right in this situation either. Pjm was pinning all of the blame on the rebels for this situation and I pointed out that Assad’s forces also have a significant role in this situation.
Or are you going to deny this?
You really hate Muslims don’t you pal!
Assad is allowing food in.
The rebel s c u m should surrender or fight.
I’m an atheist.
This is horrible.
Think Germany and camps….1940s
Another thing this article doesn’t mantion, the UN were actually in Madaya a couple of weeks ago and evacuated old, young and injured from the town. Strange how so much has changed in 2 weeks… Most of the images used to show suffering of the people in this town in social media have been exposed as fakes and most sites have retracted them from their reports.
That’s probably because there aren’t many journalists willing to risk their lives in Syria, even if the Syrian regime doesn’t shut them down before they even arrive. There’s simply a massive shortage of material coming out of Syria.
Aye, there would be a fear of being captured and executed. People complain about lack of coverage but really would they take the risk themselves?
So because journalists and media outlets can’t access the area they use fake images and reports to suit their agenda. Some logic you two have!
You made the claim that photos used in social media were fakes, not that the media were using fake images. If you believe every image posted on social media then I have some bad news.
From what I’ve seen the media are using what few legitimate photographs they can get their hands on to give a ‘representation’ of how bad it is. As you said if they’re proven to be fake photographs then they are being removed.
That’s just how journalism works when you can’t get people on the ground.
Disgraceful falsehoods there, pjm.
Pjm stop talking – you have no clue and are trying to force your racist propaganda!
Ah the race card , the last refuge of the stupid and desperate.
The sooner these western backed terrorists and criminals are defeated in Syria the sooner life will improve for all Syrians. The responsibility for these awful events lies squarely with these terrorist criminals and their backers no one else.
I wonder if Saudi Arabia stopped building sky towers could the send some airplane aid to Syria ..
Saudi Arabia’s only interest is flooding Europe with refugees , this is why they will not take any in , same reason USA didn’t take in any Jewish refugees after WW2 , back then America wanted to see a Jewish state , same as now Saudi Arabia want to see Europe turn to Islam
Ah, that and gold leafing their Ferarris. It’s ok for Muslim nations to be intolerant and not accept refugees, but any European nation says boo and they’re racist. These liberal idiots will be the end of us.
Jason, I am not in Syria, and neither are you. I trust the groups that are working on the ground in Syria to know more about the situation than we do, and do the best they can to get food in. If the effort fails, so be it. I don’t consider it a waste of time or money for people to try. There are far bigger factors at play in prolonging the disaster in Syria than the distribution (or possible misappropriation) of some basic food aid for one single town. I am simply posting information for those who feel moved to help, and trust people to do their own research on the situation and groups and decide for themselves.
Reply meant for Jason Culligan in below thread on my comment, in case of confusion…appeared in wrong place.
Gwen, as much as your will to help is commendable it is wholly misguided. As I have previously said, there is ample historical precedent to show that this is simply a bad idea. Charities have constantly ignored the damage that their policies inflict and to this day refuse to acknowledge their role in crises like the Somali Civil War.
Both the rebels and the regime are desperate for supplies, do you honestly think they’d let anything through to the people who actually need it? It’s better to provide aid only when it’s known that the people who need it will receive it, otherwise it’s doing more damage than good.
Syria’s government to allow aid in shortly, according to BBC:
How much aid is coming from the Arab states Gwen?
I honestly don’t know Nigel, and I’m sure you could find out for yourself. What does that have to do with my original point that it was better to attempt to help starving people than to throw your hands in the air and say “there’s no point”?
Never said that. I’m not having a go, I was merely asking if their neighbours are going to help them. That’s all.
Enough of this pro IS propaganda shite. The victims here were promised protection, food and shelter by Islamist fanatics, supported by their US/Saudi and Gulf state backers.
Now that the tide of Syria’s civil war has changed;largely thanks to Russian intervention, can we please have some balance here and hear of the many equally atrocious crimes against the majority of ‘non sharia law loving’ Syrian, Christian and Kurdish people?
Feeling sorry for all these people and allowing them free access to Europe is not the answer.
A lot of this kind of thing is pure manipulation pulling on the heart strings.
More troops and a massive invasion by Western forces is the only solution
Question. how many refugees has Saudi Arabia offered to take in from Syria’s civil war?
Answer. none at all.
Sickening to hear about the plight of the people of Madaya this morning (other articles are reporting that people have been reduced to eating cats and the leaves from trees). If anyone wants to donate something, this Reddit thread has information on two organisations working to get food aid directly to Madaya:
Donating to those groups would be a waste of time in fairness. There’s a very high chance that the food would be confiscated by regime forces or by one of the many rebel groups there as both are low on supplies.
We do what we can do. Is it better for aid agencies to just give up?
In this case, yes it is. Handing over supplies which will go to either belligerent will simply draw out the conflict and make things worse for the innocents caught up in the crossfire.
Look at Somalia where rebel groups made massive amounts of money selling captured aide. This only drew the conflict out longer and resulted in more suffering.
Jason C, please read the below and check out the link so you can see how very wrong you are again about events in Syria.
Why would Assad starve his own supporters? Madaya: Why would Assad starve his own supporters? OPINION Written by Paul Antonopoulos on 07/01/2016 10:58 am Images of malnourished children from the town of Madraya have emerged on the internet. The photos are so shocking that I refuse to share them as they are a testament to the evil that lies within humans. It is inconceivable that such suffering can be brought onto innocent children who had no choice or say in the war. What has emerged however is the myth that ‘Assad and his army’ are besieging the town, and that he is the one bringing this suffering upon his own people. This is the very people that he claims he is fighting to protect from jihadist forces. The Australian Broadcasting Company (ABC) ran with the line that Madaya has been ‘under siege for seven months by Syrian government forces and Hezbollah militias.’ It makes a passing mention that Ahrar ash-Sham are holed up in the town of 40,000 people, but fails to mention that Ahrar ash-Sham are a key ally to Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Syria, Jabhat Al-Nusra and shares its radical ideology. Even if Ahrar ash-Sham are holed up in the city, how does this even remotely justify the food shortages and the blockade the government is imposing on Madaya? Nothing can justify such a blockade. However, what if I was to suggest that Madaya is not under a food blockade from ‘the regime’, but that the food shortage is caused by the Ahrar ash-Sham militants attempting to force the hands of the Syrian government to ease the campaign on the besieged terrorist group? This very real prospect has not been considered by usual propagandist from the ABC, BBC, The Guardian and the usual ilk who cannot go on and do simple investigative work as it might threaten their simplistic paradigm on understanding the multifaceted and complex Syrian War. Non of them have considered or perhaps even seen (or maybe even ignored) the footage of thousands of residents from the small town parading through the street just a month earlier in support of the Syrian government. Can anyone make a logical explanation why a month earlier thousands of protesters were out in support for the army, risking their lives in front of the anti-government terrorist group to display their allegiances?
For more on this please see below link with video footage of what is really going on,
http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/23179/ | Al-Masdar News
Oh great, some ‘journalist’ writing an opinion piece from hundreds of miles away who thinks he knows more than the UN aid agencies themselves, who are at the heart of the situation.
“However, what if I was to suggest that Madaya is not under a food blockade from ‘the regime’, but that the food shortage is caused by the Ahrar ash-Sham militants attempting to force the hands of the Syrian government to ease the campaign on the besieged terrorist group?”
Already I can tell that this author has absolutely no idea what he’s talking about. The very nature of a siege is the encirclement and starvation of a defending force by preventing supplies from getting through. Sieges by their very nature are indiscriminate and starve both the defenders and civilians caught in the besieged area.
The guy obviously doesn’t know how war works.
After looking into him further, he’s an armchair columnist who’s still a student in university. Doesn’t surprise me that he posts such unfounded rubbish.
Oh fair enough. I guess a web developer has far more political science/IR knowledge then myself. Makes perfectly reasonable sense. I am not one to judge someones opinion based on their occupation or study. I’m happy to hear from anyone, but you know, since you called the first shots I’d suggest you keep to coding, or account managing, or whatever it is that you do.
With that out of way, I am curious to know whether over the 3 days since your comment if you have changed your opinion considering the falsification of the starvation has been exposed. I understand if you do not want to retract from it. Plenty of those types of people have openly said they will not retract their statements despite acknowledging they were fooled yet again by jihadi propaganda spouted out through mainstream media.
Please see: http://www.almasdarnews.com/article/analysing-madayas-starvation-falsification/
I hope you have a lovely day or night Jason depending on which time zone you are in.
Why can’t the rest of the world be as tolerant as Sweden?
The Scandinavian Model:
If the cia and MI5 plus mossad kept their noses out of Syria this would not have happened.All I keep hearing is the rebels this and that.The rebels are terrorists set up by British and US to destabilize the region because Syria with friend’s Iran are the last two counties so be taken over by global banking syndicate.War is money and bankers love money!
You’re absolutely delusional if you think that this would not have happened. The protests began due to false promises of reform made by Assad’s government to quell previous unrest.
Every dictatorship in world history has collapsed eventually. Syria is a mess of sectarian groups which barely tolerate one another on a good day and conflict was inevitable.
As for those who divide their religion and break up into sects (Shiites), you have no part in them in the least: their affair is with Allah: He will in the end tell them the truth of all that they did.” (6:159) … We the west needs to understand this is a sectarian war , Isis has 200 million Shia Muslims marked for death , poor children are caught in the middle of it . Russia are backing Assad and Shia majority , while USA at the start installed a Shia government in Iraq have seemed to do a full u turn and side with Saudi Arabia who are Sunni , also Isis are Sunni . I repeat USA are fighting the wrong enemy
Our Foreign Affairs analyst,captain bull$hit people.
The USA are fighting the people they fully intend to fight. As long as the Muslim Middle East stays unstable, the Jewish lobbyists in Washington will be happy.
And people wonder why they’d wanna leave
People don’t wonder why they’d want to leave, people wonder why only 20% of the immigrants who have entered Europe through Greece and Italy are Syrians.
The sultans worth about 200 billion and they expect normal jpe soap to feel sorry for the poor starving Arabs. This is propaganda!! At it finest.
Those children….its heart wrenching. We give to Africa, why can’t we do the same for these children?
Debi , there is no famine in Syria , this is all caused by war , and charity cannot stop a war , only people who can end this are our world leaders
have your say