Aid deliveries bringing food, medical supplies and blankets to three towns in Syria where residents say they are starving to death will begin by Sunday or Monday, a Red Cross official has said. The official called for humanitarian organisations to be granted unimpeded access to all areas under siege in Syria, saying one-off deliveries were not enough to prevent civilians from starving.
Madaya, located 1,300 metres above sea level in a mountainous region straddling the border with Lebanon, is home to 30,000 people who have been under siege since July, as part of a complicated power play. Their fate is tied to Fua and Kefraya, two Shia villages in northern Syria besieged by rebels belonging to a coalition called Jaysh al-Fateh. Backers of the government and the rebels are attempting to orchestrate a population swap but it has been repeatedly delayed.
Médecins sans Frontières said on Thursday night that 23 people had died of starvation in Madaya since 1 December.