Abdullah Burhan, a 25-year-old relief worker trapped in the town who detailed the plight of Madaya’s civilians to Newsweek last week, says residents have “mixed feelings” about the aid deliveries because they offer only a short-term solution.
Advertisement
Ban’s statement comes after news that aid trucks reached the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, which gained notoriety in recent weeks following pleas from residents for food and other basic goods.
Madaya has been under siege for months by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“The scenes we witnessed in Madaya were truly heartbreaking”, said Marianne Gasser, the most senior official with the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria.
A fresh aid convoy entered the besieged town of Madaya, north of the capital Damascus, on Thursday, the second to be delivered to the hunger-battered rebel-held area in a week, a source told Xinhua.
Among aid organizations who were entering Madaya are Care International and SOS Children’s Village, an international organization dedicated to the care of orphaned, abandoned and other vulnerable children.
Under the deal, United Nations representatives entered Madaya, however they did not get into Kefraya and Fouaa, in Idlib countryside, under the pretext that there are checkpoints for Nusra Front and Ahrar al-Sham terrorists in the two towns, the correspondent said.
Aid officials hoped to bring in more supplies, with fuel deliveries set for Sunday, according to Stillhart.
“We do not want to see this as a one-off”, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Mr Yacoub El Hillo, told reporters.
“Today, we are reaching less than 1 per cent. This is utterly unconscionable”, Ban said.
He stressed that sieges must be lifted throughout Syria, where the United Nations and its partners are equally concerned about the 4.5 million people living in hard-to-reach areas, including almost 400,000 in 15 besieged locations without access to the aid that they desperately need.
“The people we met in Madaya were exhausted and extremely frail”, Singer said.
Turkish media reports say Kurdish rebels have exploded a vehicle bomb at a police station then attacked it with rocket launchers and firearms, injuring 39 people, including civilians.
The Madaya convoy also included a nutritionist and health teams to assess the humanitarian situation, said Tarek Wheibi, spokesperson for the ICRC in Beirut.
Advertisement
Furthermore, he said other urgent measures are needed – such as the immediate end to the use of indiscriminate weapons in civilian areas, including through shelling and air strikes by any of the parties involved militarily in Syria.
