Feature: In besieged Syrian town of Madaya, starvation is all that people have

As many as 40,000 people are reeling under a six-month-old siege imposed on the Syrian town of Madaya by government troops to expunge rebel troops.

Victimized by both parties in the conflict, the rebels exploit the citizens' humanitarian anguish, even using them as cover whilst government troops attack Madaya, blocking entries and exits of people and food, except for aid trucks which entered the town under United Nations (UN) supervision Monday.

"My children drink water and eat salt just to stay alive. We stopped dreaming of feeling full after a good meal, and now just try to keep our children alive by any means," said a teary-eyed Ghiatha, mother of five in the besieged town of Madaya.

Ghaitha is a teacher who earns around 100 U.S. dollars per month. She told Xinhua that the situation in Madaya is extremely grim.

"Unfortunately, it's a common sight to see people fainting in the streets, and ill people aren't treated as we lack medical supplies. We have nothing except water," she said.

The 41-year-old mother said that one of her sons suffering from a hearing impairment. The boy approaches her everyday and rubs his stomach to indicate he's hungry.

"The situation in Madaya is horrific. Thousands of people are starving," she said tearfully, before a bullet whizzed by, and people gathered around, hoping to leave town as promised by the authorities on Monday.

A recently agreed-upon deal between the government and rebels to alleviate the suffering of thousands of starving people allowed trucks into Madaya and two other besieged Syrian towns Monday, transporting aid from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), in cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The trucks entered both Madaya as well as Kafraya and Foa, two neighboring Shiite towns loyal to the government yet surrounded by rebels in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib.

Almost 7,800 food parcels reached the town of Madaya with its 40,000 civilians besieged by Syria's government forces and the Lebanese Hezbollah group.

Another 4,000 parcels were sent to Kafraya and Foa, where 20,000 people are boxed in by the rebels.

Entry of aid convoys into Madaya was contingent upon the rebels' allowing humanitarian aid into Kafraya and Foa as well.

Most of the province of Idlib is controlled by the Jaish al-Fateh rebel group, except for Kafraya and Foa, which have been under siege since March 2015.

Over 600 people in both towns died during rebel attacks.

As aid convoys entered Madaya on Monday, reporters from Damascus approached the entrance of the besieged town where they met a handful of women, who were granted permission by government soldiers to talk to the reporters.

Ghaitha was among those women at the entrance of Madaya, hoping to leave.

"We were told some women and children whose names are listed would leave. That's all we want, just to leave. We no longer want to stay here. We've already sold everything we own, except our house, just to feed our children," she told Xinhua, her dress sagging on her feeble skeletal frame.

Behind her stood another woman, holding her head up with difficulty by the palm of her hand as she feverishly waited to leave her nightmare behind.

"My three sons are just one km away from the entrance of Madaya but due to the siege, I haven't seen them in over six months," Suha told Xinhua, adding that she speaks to them by phone as if they were thousands of miles away.

All citizens with access to the gates of the town of Madaya spoke of the horrible conditions they're facing.

According to them the rebels, or as the townspeople call them "crisis dealers," sell basic food stuffs at very high prices.

Suha says dealers sell jam in grams not kg, without mentioning where the so-called dealers get their supplies from.

"Purchasing jam in Madaya is akin to purchasing gold. They sell the jam in very small bottles like jewelry boxes," she said.

Citing another example, she said one kilo of rice is sold for 180 dollars.

She added that the government allowed aid in two months ago but the parcels only lasted for 15 days.

"We don't need aid. This siege must be lifted or they must allow us to leave the town," she said.

Madaya is a mountainous town close to Lebanon, and people froze from the bitter cold as they stood at the gates waiting for troops to let them through, while Hezbollah fighters who joined the army in their Syria operations thoroughly checked the aid convoys.

Reporters left the scene around 6:30 pm, heading back to the capital when it started raining heavily. The besieged people's hollow eyes were fixed on the reporters' departing vehicles, with one girl admitting, "I wish I could leave with you."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said aid distribution continued until dawn Tuesday in Madaya, and that 300 people were allowed to leave the town.

The UK-based watchdog group, which relies on a network of on ground activists, added that 400 people are in need of urgent medical care.

Images depicting emaciated people from Madaya were recently published online by the Observatory.

However the government shunned the images, claiming they were "mostly forged," by the opposition to demonize the Syrian government.

In recent weeks, rebels in the city of Zabadani, near Madaya, reached a deal with the government to evacuate the city.

Dozens of wounded rebels left the town in December amid talks that the government must ease its siege on Zabadani.

The citizens of Madaya long for a similar fate which would allow them to live normally once more.

The UN reports that it has received reliable accounts of people dying from starvation or killed while attempting to leave Madaya.

The ongoing Syrian conflict continues to hamper humanitarian aid from reaching the starving populations of the various besieged towns, and freedom of movement is restricted owing to the presence of armed forces and landmines.

Warring parties in Syria resort to sieges as a tactic used by combatants in order to diminish one another's strength.

It successfully forced rebels out of several areas and drove the government into negotiations in other areas, however countless civilians are innocently caught in the crossfire, and are innocent victims facing one of the most dreadful consequences of the siege. Endit