Syria government agrees to let aid into beleaguered villages

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 Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group.

Since a “one-off food distribution” in October, Doctors Without Borders says the town has been subjected “to a total strangehold siege”, leaving its residents with “little to eat for months”.

The permission came after reports that several people had starved to death in the three villages over the past weeks.

Louay, a social worker from the town, said in an interview with the Guardian, “People are dying in slow motion”. “Grass and leaves have died because of the mounting snow”.

Madaya residents have also been resorting to water flavoured with spices, lemon, salt and vinegar, where they are available, according to Abu Hassan Mousa, the head of an opposition council in the town.

“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.

World Food Programme spokeswoman Bettina Luescher said: “WFP are deeply concerned about the reported humanitarian situation in Madaya, threatening the lives of almost 40,000 people”.

“France condemns in the strongest terms the siege imposed on the town of Madaya by the Syria regime”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Roman Nadal told a press briefing in Paris on Wednesday evening. However, the group said claims of starvation were part of a “false propaganda campaign” and that there have been “No deaths as (the) media says”.

But the global humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières says 23 patients have died of starvation at a health centre in Madaya since December the 1st. But only one delivery was made to Madaya, on 18 October, and residents since then have nearly entirely run out of food. The UN said it has received credible reports of people dying in Madaya of starvation.

The nearby town of Zabadani is also under siege, despite a deal last month that saw Sunni rebel fighters given free passage out of the town in exchange for the evacuation of Shia families from the northern towns of Kefraya and Fua.

The five-year war has displaced more than 11 million Syrians, and 250,000 people have been killed.

In the meantime, Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government has repeatedly denied United Nations requests to deliver aid to specific areas.

Pawel Krzysiek said: “We have been receiving quite concerning reports from Madaya, but also from al-Foua and Kefraya about the situation of the people there, as in all besieged areas in Syria”.