1st LD: Aid convoys start entering besieged Syrian towns

Trucks carrying relief aid started entering three besieged Syrian towns on Monday as part of a deal concluded recently between the government and rebels to alleviate the suffering of thousands of starved people.

The trucks started simultaneously entering the rebel-held town of Madaya north of the capital Damascus and Kafraya and Foa, two adjacent Shiite towns loyal to the government but surrounded by rebels in northern Syria.

As many as 7,800 food parcels are entering Madaya, where 40,000 people are besieged by Syrian government forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group, a source told Xinhua, adding almost 4,000 parcels are entering Kafraya and Foa, where 20,000 people are trapped by the rebels.

The entry of aid convoys to Madaya was conditioned to the rebels' allowing humanitarian assistance into Kafraya and Foa.

Much of Idlib province is under the control of the Jaish al-Fateh rebel group, except for Kafraya and Foa, which has been under siege since March 2015. More than 600 people in the two towns have been killed in rebel attacks.

In recent weeks, the rebels in the city of Zabadani, which is adjacent to Madaya, reached a deal with the government to evacuate from the city. Dozens of wounded rebels were allowed to leave in December amid talks that the government would loosen its siege on Zabadani.

Recently, photos showing famished people from Madaya were published online by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, but the government rejected those images as "largely fake" and being planned by the opposition to demonize the Syrian government.

The government said aid convoys had been allowed into Madaya two months ago, accusing rebels of seizing the supplies and selling them to locals at very high prices.

Muhammad Abu al-Qassem, a Syrian opposition figure, told Xinhua that as the result of a government siege, Madaya has been suffering from a severe shortage of medical supplies and food since last August, causing the spread of diseases and hunger.

Some had to resort to eating tree leafs, stray cats and dogs and even garbage as prices of basic food items shot up to exorbitant levels -- an equivalent of about 155 U.S. dollars for one kg of white wheat and 120 dollars for one kg of rice, Abu al-Qassem said. Endit