Starvation as weapon in Syria is war crime — United Nations chief

“We have no clear picture of the number of children that are unaccompanied in Madaya; however, we know that the situation there is dire”, said Ahmed Hussein, leader of the emergency response programme for the organisation.

Her remarks came as aid workers with convoys of life-saving assistance to the besieged town of Madaya confirmed cases of severe malnutrition among the town’s 42,000 desperate residents.

Unicef said that of 25 children under the age of five screened by its staff and the World Health Organisation, 22 showed signs of “moderate to severe” malnutrition. All were now receiving treatment.

The spokesman for the U.N. Children’s Fund, Christophe Boulierac, says the U.N. found severe levels of malnutrition in the children. Singer pointed out that “there are 14 other ‘Madayas'”. “They could barely walk or talk”.

“They have basically been surviving on grass”. Siege Watch, a monitoring network, says that figure stands at more than a million, while the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF), puts the figure at close to two million. “A lot of people were also giving their children sleeping pills, because the children could not stop crying from hunger, and their parents had nothing to feed them”.

“The adults looked very emaciated”.

Last week, the Lebanese al-Manar TV said terrorist groups had hoarded aid packages for Madaya and sold it to the locals at inflated prices.

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

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the meeting ‘will draw the world’s attention to the humanitarian tragedy that is unfolding in Madaya and in other towns in Syria’.

In what can only be described as absolutely sick, supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are mocking the thousand of people under siege by government troops in the most despicable way.

OCHA spokeswoman Linda Tom said aid agencies had made several requests to also access Zabadani but had yet to receive authorisation.

Syrian children wait on the outskirts of the besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya, on January 11, 2016, after being evacuated from the town.

Underscoring the complications on that issue, Russian Federation condemned as terrorists two rebel groups that are represented in a newly-formed opposition council tasked with overseeing the negotiations.

Aid agencies entered Madaya with a convoy on Thursday to deliver desperately-needed humanitarian aid, in a second such operation this week.

Ali’s death late yesterday was witnessed by representatives of the United Nations children’s agency, Unicef, as they assessed the health situation of residents of the famine-stricken town.

Earlier, the Syrian government reiterated its commitment to cooperating fully with the United Nations and the Red Cross to deliver humanitarian aid to all civilians “without any discrimination”. “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”.

The two villages, along with Madaya and the nearby rebel-controlled town Zabadani, are part of a six-month truce deal that foresaw an end to hostilities in exchange for aid deliveries.