Syria starvation ‘a war crime — United Nations chief

Two convoys of trucks reached the besieged towns – Madaya, Fouaa and Kfarya – on Thursday, carrying aid from the United Nations and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, according to Mr Jens Laerke, a spokesman in Geneva for the United Nations agency that coordinates humanitarian aid.

Fuaa and Kafraya, two government-held villages in northwest Syria, have been under siege by rebel groups for months.

The UN body screened 25 children under five for malnutrition; 22 of those children showed signs of moderate to severe malnutrition, Boulierac said. All were now receiving treatment.

UNICEF Representative in Syria Hanaa Singer (center) speaks to children and families in the besieged area of Madaya, Syria. “They could barely walk or talk”.

“They have basically been surviving on grass. They were crying silently but helplessly”.

Children in Madaya had also not been vaccinated against diseases such as polio or measles, the agencies added.

Another U.N. official involved in the humanitarian effort in Syria said it would be risky in such a violent conflict zone to attempt to deliver aid without government consent.

Abeer Pamuk, communications advisor for the group who travelled to Madaya, said on arrival in Madaya, they saw “an overwhelming amount of people, all were extremely skinny and very pale”.

“The adults looked very emaciated. According to a member of the relief committee, 32 people have died of starvation in the last 30-day period”.

Secretary General has described the use of starvation as a weapon in Syria, as a war crime.

“Starving citizens is a war crime under worldwide humanitarian law”.

Civilians are still not allowed to move in or out of besieged areas, with accounts from people inside Madaya that at least eight people died while trying to smuggle food inside.

A U.N. Security Council meeting Friday to address the sieges exhibited the bitter divisions that have characterized the global response to Syria’s war. The terrorist group ISIS has taken over large swaths of the country and neighboring Iraq.

Syrians wait for an aid convoy in the besieged town of Madaya in the countryside of Damascus, Syria on Friday.

Reports of starvation have drawn worldwide attention to Madaya, where an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 people are thought to be trapped without food, electricity, and other basic supplies.

She recalled that for more than four years, the humanitarian community has sounded the alarm about the impact of Syria’s conflict on ordinary men, women and children.

Deliveries of food aid have been made in recent days after the United Nations managed to arrange safe passage to deliver emergency humanitarian supplies.

Unicef and World Health Organization teams also worked with the hospital staff to establish a stabilisation centre for improved treatment of patients with malnutrition and severe acute malnutrition. “It is, however, shared by those that conduct military activities in or from populated areas, thereby using civilians as shields and placing them in harm’s way”.

Next week, the United Nations hopes to send more aid convoys to Madaya and the villages of Foua and Kefraya, which are being besieged by rebels linked to al-Qaeda who are opposed to the Assad regime.

In a Press conference Ban Ki Moon said humanitarian teams in the war torn country are witnessing scenes that ‘haunt the soul’.