New aid planned for besieged Syria towns

A Syrian girl waits with her family, who say they have received permission from the Syrian government to leave the besieged town, as they depart after an aid convoy entered Madaya, Syria January 11, 2016.

United Nations war crimes investigators have begun an inquiry into claims residents of a besieged Syrian town have been starved in violation of global law.

Of course, there were a number of awful examples of emergencies for intervention, to evacuate 400 critically ill people who are going to die if they dont get fast to a medical facility that has the capacity to deal with their complicated condition [] These people must get out today before tomorrow if we are going to save their lives, Hillo said of the people in Madaya.

New Zealand’s U.N. Ambassador Gerard van Bohemen, who called Monday’s council meeting with Spain, said “we recognize that a political solution is the answer to the wider problem, but humanitarian access can not be held hostage to the politics. We must seek to do this and put the arrangements in place as soon as at all possible for medical treatment or they are in grave peril of losing their lives and dying with either the causes being from malnutrition or for complications for other medical reasons”, he said.

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees representative Sajjad Malik said in a text message that there were crowds of hungry kids around in the isolated town as the first four trucks of the 49-truck convoy unloaded in the dark to help relieve a situation that UN officials last week called “horrendous ghastly”.

Some UN officials have described seeing several malnourished people, particularly children. He said about 2 pounds of rice would sell there for $300, and noted one account of one person selling a motorcycle to buy 10 pounds of rice.

The Observatory said at least 300 people left the town and were taken by government forces to the Damascus region.

Putin said the rebels are trying to tear Syria apart, while Assad is trying to hold it together. But the aid group Doctors Without Borders has said that 23 people died of starvation at a health center it supports in Madaya since December 1, including six infants and five adults over 60.

There has been growing worldwide concern about the suffering of thousands of people in besieged towns like Madaya. At the same time, however, he said economic sanctions against Syria and the influx of “terrorists from all over the world” are causing starvation and economic and humanitarian problems in the country.

“Many of the people apparently [told aid workers this week] they had not eaten for five days”, Nelson said. There are more than 400,000 people living in besieged areas across Syria.

The World Health Organization said it had asked the Syrian government to allow it to send mobile clinics and medical teams to Madaya to assess the extent of malnutrition and evacuate the worst cases.

But hundreds of residents remain in need of urgent care, and aid groups are working on their evacuation, said ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek.

After months of negotiations, the United Nations and its aid partners were able on Monday to send 65 truckloads of food, medical aid, blankets and winter clothing to the trapped residents of Madaya and two other towns.