United Nations chief: starvation as weapon in Syria is war crime

The UN is trying to get humanitarian teams to the besieged town of Madaya to deliver food and medical aid.

He said all sides – including the Syrian Government – are committing this and other “atrocious acts” prohibited under worldwide humanitarian law.

“While we express our shock over the situation in Madaya, let us not forget that across Syria, there are 14 other ‘Madayas, ‘” said Ms. Singer, stressing that these are locations where different parties to the conflict have been using siege as a tactic of war, depriving children and innocent civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies and services. 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. “Today, we are reaching less than 1 per cent. This is utterly unconscionable”, Ban said.

A convoy of aid from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent waits on the outskirts of besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya.

Trucks from the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations entered Madaya yesterday for the second time in a week after reports of starvation deaths. Some of these groups are backed by the West. The almost five-year-long civil war has created a massive humanitarian disaster, a refugee crisis that has long-term political implications for Syria’s neighbors, and a massive influx of migrants to Europe.

Officials who travelled to the town with the first aid convoy on Monday reported “heartbreaking” and nightmarish scenes they said were the worst they had seen in Syria.

The medical aid group Doctors Without Borders (MSF) says nearly 30 people have died in Madaya due to a shortage of food since early December.

The ministry said it had been working with the Syrian government to try to help resolve the situation and had been encouraging them to cooperate with the United Nations, efforts it said had produced results.

They found 22 children under the age of 5 suffering from malnutrition, according to a statement Friday from Hanaa Singer, the organization’s representative in Syria. Iran’s state media quoted Syria’s ambassador as saying that “media reports of starving civilians in the southwestern town of Madaya have been fabricated in an attempt to defame the government of President Bashar al-Assad”.

“According to the ICRC team that entered Madaya, the people were very happy, even crying when they realized that wheat flour is on the way”, Dominik Stillhart, ICRC director of operations, told reporters in NY.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has called on all parties to end the sieges on Madaya, Foua, and Kfarya. But the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group that monitors both sides of the conflict, said the aid was parachuted over neighborhoods controlled by government forces.

Of the 91 current requests from the United Nations for aid deliveries, only 13 have been granted, he said. The US military said it was targeting a “high-value individual” when a vehicle and a motorcycle entered the target area after the weapon was released.

“As the date for the launch draws closer there is all this unnecessary noise”, Safronkov said, referring to the planned start of an inter-Syrian dialogue later this month.