UNICEF witnessed death of teenager in besieged Syria town

A convoy carrying desperately needed food and medicine entered the hunger-stricken Syrian town of Madaya on Thursday, the second delivery of aid this week after months of government siege.

Horrific images of gaunt and emaciated locals sparked worldwide 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.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that aid trucks have started entering rebel-held town of Madaya near the border with Lebanon and the Shi’ite villages of Kefraya and al-Foua in Idlib province in the northwest of the country.

United Nations agencies Thursday called on all parties to the conflict in Syria to facilitate “immediate and uninterrupted humanitarian access to all areas throughout the country”.

The Madaya siege is yet another factor complicating Syria peace talks scheduled for the end of this month.

The plight of Madaya and other besieged areas has prompted the UN Security Council to call an emergency meeting for Friday, amid warnings that the use of starvation as a weapon constitutes a war crime. In its latest report, UN OCHA said there are 393,700 Syrians now besieged, while NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres says as many as two million people are affected.

“Let me be clear”, Ban told reporters, “the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime”.

“All sides – including the Syrian government which has the primary responsibility to protect Syrians – are committing this and other atrocious acts prohibited under worldwide humanitarian law”, he said.

“The town’s population of 40,000 is being served by only two doctors, with a limited capacity to save the lives of civilians”.

In a statement, the ICRC’s top official in Syria, Marianne Gasser, said Madaya’s suffering was “heartbreaking”.

UNICEF and World Health Organization staff witnessed one 16-year-old die of starvation during their visit and said some people would need to be evacuated to receive medical care. “This can not go on”, Gasser said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to try to shore up the fragile peace process in talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in London on Thursday.

“In this context, the implementation of humanitarian operations will be a new line of work for the Russian armed forces in Syria”, said senior military official General Sergei Rudskoi.

Rebel groups that back the idea of a political settlement issued a statement on Wednesday rejecting any negotiations before goodwill measures from Damascus including a ceasefire.

Ban said the United Nations and its humanitarian partners are able to deliver food to only 1 percent of the 400,000 people under siege in Syria, down from an already dismal 5 percent just over a year ago.

The team, Singer said, was “saddened and shocked”. Among the rebels are the terrorist group ISIS.