U.N. Official Urges ‘Immediate’ End to Sieges in Syria

The head of the United Nations’ relief efforts in Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, urged all warring parties on Tuesday to end their blockades on key communities and allow the delivery of aid to civilians trapped behind the front lines, the New York Times reports.

“The immediate thing to be done is to lift sieges everywhere,” the humanitarian coordinator for Syria told reporters by phone from Damascus.

Hillo made his comments a day after joining a much-needed aid convoy into the besieged town of Madaya, where he said he saw malnourished and starving people, particularly children, who had been without proper food for weeks.

Some of the people in Madaya, he said, resembled “skeletons that are now barely moving.” The one-time delivery of aid is expected to last a family of five about one month.

Syrian government troops and pro-government militia fighters, including fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, have encircled rebel-held Madaya since July 2015.

Monday’s aid convoy also delivered food and medicine to the mostly Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, which have been besieged by Jaish al-Fatah, a battlefield coalition of rebel groups including those backed by regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

“All parties to the conflict are exercising it, and it must stop,” Hillo said, referring to the practice of siege throughout the war in Syria.

U.S. Has Softened Stance on Assad, Says Opposition Coordinator

Opposition coordinator Riad Hijab accused the United States on Tuesday of softening its stance on Syria, including the future of President Bashar al-Assad, warning that the opposition was still undecided as to whether it would attend peace talks with the government set for later this month, Reuters reports.

The opposition, the U.N. and the Syrian government remain divided over the talks’ agenda, according to Hijab, who was appointed coordinator of the opposition’s negotiating team in December.

“Sadly, there is very clear backtracking, especially from the United States, with regard to the agenda of the negotiations,” Hijab said on Tuesday. “They want the creation of a government whereby the regime would leave us – the opposition – a few ministries.”

Hijab said the softening in the U.S.’s position allowed for the creation of a two-year road map for peace talks put out in December that is full of “holes and ambiguities.”

He said, “The Russians and Americans did not cite Assad (during the negotiations) and did not talk about his departure and that is clear backtracking.” He added, “When Obama said he (Assad) had no legitimacy, Kerry was making concessions.”

Pro-Government Troops Retake Rebel-Held Town in Latakia

Pro-government forces retook a key front-line town from rebels in Latakia province on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and Syrian state media, government troops and Hezbollah fighters have taken over the town of Salma in northeastern Latakia.

The pro-government ground troops were supported by dozens of airstrikes, and Russian officers were said to be directing the assault, according to the Observatory.

The recapture of Salma is part of an ongoing Syrian government offensive aimed at retaking ground and cutting rebel supply lines in the western provinces of Latakia, Aleppo, Homs and Hama.

Recommended Reads

• The Wall Street Journal: Pentagon Considers Plan to Train Fighters in Syria
• The Guardian: Without Education, Syria’s Children Will Be a Lost Generation
• The Washington Post: Vladimir Putin Hints That Russia Could Grant Asylum to Syria’s President
• Al-Monitor: Why Syria Will Pay for Iran–Saudi Rift
• The Wall Street Journal: Aid Workers Describe Grim Scene in Besieged Syrian Town

Top image: Residents talk to reporters in the besieged town of Madaya, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on Monday, Jan. 11, 2016. Aid convoys reached three besieged villages on Monday: Madaya, 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 Fuaa 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. is hoping to host in Geneva on Jan. 25. (AP Photo)