Syria approves UN bid for aid deliveries as starving children eat GRASS to survive
THE Syrian government has approved a United Nations request for new aid deliveries to three besieged towns.
Syrian officials have approved aid deliveries to three besieged villages
Hundreds of civilians are facing severe malnutrition in Madaya, Foua and Kfarya, with some having tragically starved to death.
Aid deliveries to the villages had been blocked until three weeks ago when trucks from the UN and other humanitarian organisations were allowed to enter.
The breakthrough comes as talks aimed at ending the Syrian conflict begin in Geneva between the war-torn country's government and opposition.
Madaya, a town northeast of Damascus with a population of 40,000, gained international attention after harrowing pictures emerged showing emaciated children.
A spokesman for Doctors without Borders said on Friday that 16 people have died in Madaya since the relief convoys began arriving on January 12.
The group reported 320 cases of malnutrition and said 33 of those people "are in danger of dying if they do not receive prompt and effective treatment.
Madaya gained international attention through harrowing pictures of starving children
In the Shiite villages of Fouaa and Kfarya in northern Idlib province, recently evacuated pro-government fighters described desperate conditions.
They said some people were eating grass to survive and even undergoing surgery without anesthesia.
The villages, in the villages, with a combined population of around 20,000, have have been blockaded by rebels for more than a year.
Som 16 people have died since relief convoys arrived last month
Ban Ki-moon, the UN's Secretary General, has branded the deliberate starvation of civilians a "war crime".
He urged both the Syrian government and rebels to end the sieges before peace talks started, which did not happen.
But the main opposition coalition kept up its demand for humanitarian aid to the needy at the Geneva talks yesterday.