Syrian United Nations Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari discussed the besieged towns of Syria on Monday (January 11) after reports emerged that tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped for months without supplies and are starving to death.
Trucks carrying food and medical supplies reached Madaya near the Lebanese border and began to distribute aid as part of an agreement between warring sides, the United Nations and the Red Cross said on Monday.
A U.N. spokesman said aid trucks were also en route to the Shi’ite villages of al Foua and Kefraya in the northwestern province of Idlib, two other areas where there is a desperate need for humanitarian assistance.
Ja’afari told reporters his government was committed to “cooperate fully” on aid delivery but said much of what was said about Madaya was “based on false information.” He labelled pictures of starving people as “fabrications.”
“There is no shortage of humanitarian assistance in Madaya,” he said, adding that some aid has been “looted by armed terrorist groups.”
The Syrian civil war has been raging for nearly five years and has claimed more than a quarter million lives.
A U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Dec. 18 set out a road map for peace talks and called on the parties to allow aid workers unhindered access throughout Syria, particularly in besieged and hard-to-reach areas.
The blockade of Madaya has become a focal issue for Syrian opposition leaders, who told a U.N. envoy last week they would not take part in talks with the government, slated for later this month, until it and other sieges are lifted. (Reuters)
