Advertisement

Aid convoys reach 3 Syria communities besieged for months

 
A convoy containing food, medical items, blankets and other materials arrives in Madaya, Syria, on Monday. The town has been blockaded for months by government troops and Hezbollah.
A convoy containing food, medical items, blankets and other materials arrives in Madaya, Syria, on Monday. The town has been blockaded for months by government troops and Hezbollah.
Published Jan. 12, 2016

DAMASCUS, Syria — Aid convoys delivered long-awaited food, medicine and other supplies to three besieged communities Monday, part of a U.N.-supported operation to help tens of thousands of civilians cut off for months by the war in Syria.

Reports of starvation and images of emaciated children have raised global concerns and underscored the urgency for new peace talks that the U.N. is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25.

The U.N. Security Council took up the issue Monday. The U.N. says 4.5 million Syrians are living in besieged or hard-to-reach areas and desperately need humanitarian aid, with civilians prevented from leaving and aid workers blocked from bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other supplies.

It will take several days to distribute the aid in the town of Madaya, near Damascus, and the Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya in northern Syria, and the supplies are probably enough to last for a month, aid agencies said.

"It's really heartbreaking to see the situation of the people," said Red Cross spokesman Pawel Krzysiek, who oversaw the distribution in Madaya. "A while ago, I was just approached by a little girl and her first question was, 'Did you bring food?' "

Added Sajjad Malik, a representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees who took part in the operation: "It's cold and raining, but there is excitement because we are here with some food and blankets."

The operation marked a small, positive development in a bitter conflict now in its fifth year that has killed a quarter of a million people, displaced millions of others and left the country in ruins.

Rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad are in control of Madaya, a mountain town about 15 miles northwest of Damascus. Government troops and fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have surrounded the town. Opposition activists and aid groups have reported several deaths from starvation in recent weeks.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari denied anyone was starving in Madaya and blamed Arab television especially "for fabricating these allegations and lies."

An Associated Press crew saw the first three trucks cross into Madaya on Monday, although journalists were not allowed to accompany the aid workers. At the town's entrance, several civilians — including five children shivering against the cold — said they were waiting to be taken out.

"I want out. There is nothing in Madaya, no water, no electricity, no fuel and no food," said Safiya Ghosn, a teacher.

Trucks also began entering Foua and Kfarya, which are both under siege by rebel groups hundreds of miles to the north.

Tales of hunger and hardship have emerged from those inside all three communities: Pro-government fighters recently evacuated from inside Foua and Kfarya have said some residents are eating grass to survive. Residents of Madaya similarly have reported living off soup made of leaves and saltwater.