Convoys Deliver Aid to Three Besieged Communities
Aid convoys reached three besieged Syrian towns on Monday to deliver long-awaited food and medical supplies to tens of thousands of civilians that have been cut off from the rest of the country for months, the Associated Press reports.
Images of emaciated children and reports of starvation have captured global attention over the past few weeks, highlighting the urgency of peace talks the United Nations hopes to hold in Geneva on January 25.
More than 400 people in the besieged town of Madaya “are on the brink of death and in need of immediate medical evacuation,” U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said at a closed-door briefing of the Security Council.
According to the latest U.N. figures, nearly 4.5 million Syrians are living in blockaded or hard-to-reach areas and are in critical need of humanitarian aid. Civilians are barred from leaving many of these areas, and aid workers are blocked from delivering much-needed food, medicine, fuel and other supplies.
“It’s really heartbreaking to see the situation of the people,” said Red Cross spokesperson Pawel Krzysiek, who managed the distribution of aid in Madaya. “A while ago, I was just approached by a little girl and her first question was, ‘Did you bring food?’”
It is expected to take several days to distribute aid in the town of Madaya near Damascus, which has been besieged by pro-government troops, and the Shiite-majority villages of Fou’a and Kafraya in northern Syria, who’ve been surrounded by opposition forces. The new supplies are enough to last about a month.
Russian Strike on School Kills at Least 12 Children
A Russian airstrike in Aleppo on Monday killed at least 12 children and 3 adults, AFP reports.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strike hit a school building in the town of Anjara, injuring at least 20 people, all of them children and teachers.
One of the three adults killed in the strike was a teacher.
The Observatory said there had been heavy clashes between government and rebel forces since Sunday in Syria’s northernmost province, the majority of which is controlled by a mixture of moderate and Islamist rebel groups.
Photos published by activists online showed rubble-filled classrooms and broken desks.
The monitor also reported that rebel rocket fire killed three children in the government-held area of Aleppo city.
The city of Aleppo has been divided between rebel fighters in the east and government forces in the west since shortly after fighting reached the north in mid-2012.
Peace Talks in Doubt After Russian Bombing
The coordinator for Syria’s opposition accused Russia on Monday of killing dozens of children in a bombing raid on Aleppo and said that the opposition could not negotiate with Bashar al-Assad’s government as a result.
After speaking with French president Francois Hollande in Paris, Riad Hijab said Moscow had struck three schools in Aleppo, killing 35 children, Reuters reports.
“We want to negotiate, but to do that the conditions have to be there,” Hijab said. “We cannot negotiate with the regime when there are foreign forces bombing the Syrian people.”
Hijb, Assad’s former prime minister who defected in 2012, was chosen in December to coordinate the opposition negotiating body set to enter into peace talks with the Syrian government on January 25.
“We do not want to go to negotiations that are condemned to failure before they start. We need to create the right climate,” Hijab said. “How could we negotiate when the Syrian people are dying. Each day there are massacres.”
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- The New York Times: Convoys Enter Besieged Syrian Towns to Deliver Food and Medical Aid
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Top image: Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 and people wait to leave the besieged town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, Syria. Aid convoys reached three besieged villages on Monday including Madaya, near Damascus, where U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said about 400 people need to be evacuated immediately to receive life-saving treatment for medical conditions, malnourishment and starvation; and the Shiite villages of Fou’a and Kafraya in northern Syria. Reports of starvation and images of emaciated children have raised global concerns and underscored the urgency for new peace talks that the U.N. hopes to host in Geneva on Jan. 25. (AP Photo)