2nd aid convoy on way to besieged Madaya

A convoy of dozens of aid trucks departed from Damascus on Thursday on their way to the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, the second delivery there this week, a humanitarian official and a Reuters witness said.

The medical charity MSF has said that 28 people have died of starvation in Madaya since December 1 and United Nations relief officials described seeing emaciated children and severely malnourished residents when they arrived in the town.

When the aid got into Kefraya, Fouaa and Madaya on Monday, the residents assured that the terrorists were selling the food aids which were delivered to these towns.

The trucks carried wheat, flour, cleaning materials and some medical supplies.

The two towns located in Syria’s northwest, which has been under siege by rebels, also received aid early this week. The source said the convoy hopes to reach Madaya shortly.

Madaya, a former mountain resort near the Lebanon border, has been under siege since last summer by forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.

Linda Tom, a spokeswoman with the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told AFP that a third batch of aid would enter the towns in the following days.

Overall, it said, 4.5 million people in the country are living in hard-to-reach locations. “These are true stories coming out of Madaya”.

The civil war is nearing the five-year mark.

A similar aid convoy of 17 trucks headed to the villages of Foua and Kfarya, in the northern province of Idlib, which have been besieged by rebels.

All parties to the conflict are using siege warfare, encircling populated areas, preventing civilians from leaving and blocking humanitarian access in an attempt to force opponents to surrender.