New Aid Convoys Heads For Besieged Syrian Towns

The relief mission is being conducted as part of a U.N.-brokered deal to deliver aid to Madaya, in a mountainous area 25 kilometers (15 miles) northwest of Damascus, and to al-Fouaa and Kefraya – two towns suffering under a rebel blockade in the country’s northwest.

Trucks from the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations entered Madaya Thursday for the second time in a week after reports of starvation deaths.

A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said Thursday’s convoy included a total of 44 aid trucks. The source said the convoy hopes to reach Madaya shortly.

In this photo released on Tuesday, Jan 12, 2016, by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian government troops and allied militiamen walk inside the key town of Salma in Latakia province, Syria. Horrific images of gaunt and emaciated locals sparked global outcry, prompting the Syrian government last week to agree on allowing aid into Madaya and two other towns – Kefraya and Foua – where residents were facing starvation.

Madaya, a former mountain resort near the Lebanon border, has been under siege for months by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Ban said Syrians living under siege were “being held hostage”, but added that their plight was even worse: “Hostages get fed”.

The Syria conflict, which will enter its sixth year in March, has left more than 250,000 people dead and turned the country into the world’s largest source of refugees and displaced persons, according to UN.

The U.N. said Monday about 400 people required immediate medical evacuation for starvation and other conditions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet in Zurich with US Secretary of State John Kerry on January 20 to discuss peace efforts, Moscow and Washington said.

“But he still has to define how to press ahead with this mechanism which to me is not looking good because all sides are not agreed on the parameters”.

Fighting is raging between government forces backed by the Russian air force and Iranian forces on one hand, and rebels including groups that have received military support from states including Saudi Arabia and the United States. “There is no sign of goodwill”.

Ban said the United Nations and partners delivered food to about 5% of people in areas struck by civil war in 2014, compared to 1% Thursday.