Starving city where people are so hungry they're eating their PET CATS
STARVING Syrians are so desperately hungry they are resorting to eating grass and killing their own cats to feed themselves.
At least 28 people have already died of hunger since December
The UN has warned that 400 residents of the desperate rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya need urgent medical help, just hours after the first aid convoy for months arrived.
At least 28 people have already died of hungry since December, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
The charity called the city an "open air prison" with 42,000 residents trapped in Madaya - once a popular holiday resort - by a government blockade.
Horrific images of emaciated children have emerged from the city which has been besieged for six months by Bashar al Assad's forces.
Dr Mohamad Youssef, manager of the medical council in Madaya, said two or three residents are dying of starvation every day.
He said: "The medical staff are on high alert 24 hours. They are receiving people who are severely ill and fainting all hours - day and night."
Some residents were eating cats and dogs to survive, while others were forced to eat leaves
The UN has urged the Syrian government to get the most vulnerable out of the starving town.
Spanish Ambassador Roman Oyarzun said the UN Security Council had been told that the 400 worst-affected residents were "in a very critical situation".
He added: "If they are not evacuated tonight, the situation will be more than dramatic tomorrow."
A harrowing Facebook post revealed a resident preparing to slit the throat of a cat, alongside a caption that read: "Because it's just what's left for us."
One local doctor said two or three residents are dying of starvation every day
One unnamed aid worker in the town confirmed that some residents were eating cats and dogs to survive, while others were forced to eat leaves.
He said: "Humanity has fallen with the fall of the first man from hunger in Madaya."
Another picture from the town described "water, water, salt, salt, lemon" as a "meal for two".
Rice has to be sold by the gram because a kilogram can cost up to £170 at the moment.
The UN has urged the Syrian government to get the most vulnerable out of the starving town
The first UN aid trucks arrived since October
British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said: "The international community cannot stand by in silence while humanitarian access in Syria continues to be denied.
"Starving civilians is an inhuman tactic used by the Assad regime and their allies. All sieges must be lifted to save civilian lives and to bring Syria closer to peace."
Syria's UN envoy Bashar Jaafari said reports of starving Madayans were fabricated and he blamed "terrorists inside" the town of stealing aid.
He said: "Actually, there was no starvation in Madaya.
"The Syrian government is not and will not exert any policy of starvation on its own people."
Syrian Intense Airstrike Hits Darayya in Damascus Syria
Yesterday a convoy of 44 trucks carrying food, baby formula, blankets and other supplies reached the city - the first aid for months since October.
Red Cross spokesman Diber Fakhr said: "When we were there in October we could see the desperation and hunger in the eyes of the people.
"Some women were unable to lactate and feed their babies because they were so malnourished."
Last year, a number of Syrian scholars issued a fatwa permitting those trapped under siege to eat cats and dogs on the grounds of necessity.