PHOTO: Children in Madaya appeal for international help, January 11, 2016


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Desperate Lives in Starving Madaya
US and Russia — Opposition-Regime Talks Should Begin Without Preconditions


UPDATE 1545 GMT: Amid criticism of the Assad regime over its sieges, Russia has proclaimed that it has begun deliveries inside Syria.

The Defense Ministry’s Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi said that the first aid consignment has been delivered to Deir ez-Zor city, which is besieged by the Islamic State.

Rudskoi said 22 tons of supplies had been provided via IL-76 transport aircraft. He contended that Russia’s assistance differed from that of international organizations into opposition-held territory because. “much of this aid falls into the hands of militants.”

Russia’s first aid consignment has been delivered to Deir al-Zor city, Rudskoi said.


A second aid convoy reached besieged Madaya, northwest of Syria’s capital Damascus, on Thursday.

Three days after an initial four-truck delivery, another six trucks entered the town in the evening. The aid included 120 tons of flour, other foodstuffs, medicine, and a range of basic supplies.

Health and nutrition teams arrived to assess the state of Madaya’s 40,000 residents. The UN said earlier this week that 400 were severely malnourished and needed medical evacuation, but on Thursday officials said they would be treated in the town instead.

An estimated 60 people have died of starvation in Madaya since December 1. The town has been cut off by the Syrian military since last July, when Hezbollah and regime forces tried to overrun nearby Zabadani.

The UN children’s fund UNICEF said on Friday that it could “confirm that cases of severe malnutrition were found among children”. It said that out of 25 children under the age of five screened by its staff and the World Health Organisation, 22 showed signs of “moderate to severe” malnutrition.

Despite a ceasefire in late September, the Assad regime allowed only one convoy of aid in mid-October into the town. Damascus finally relented earlier this week after the start of international attention to Madaya’s plight, and after an agreement for assistance at the same time to the regime enclaves of al-Fu’ah and Kafraya, long surrounded by rebels, in northwest Syria.

Another convoy also entered al-Fu’ah and Kafraya on Thursday. State TV coverage of the deliveries:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said, after yesterday’s arrival of the convoys:

Let me be clear: the use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime. All sides — including the Syrian government, which has the primary responsibility to protect Syrians — are committing this and other atrocious acts prohibited under international humanitarian law.

He continued, “U.N. teams have witnessed scenes that haunt the soul. The elderly and children, men and women, who were little more than skin and bones: gaunt, severely malnourished, so weak they could barely walk, and utterly desperate for the slightest morsel.”


US Confirms Turkish Attacks Against Islamic State in Northern Syria

The US military has confirmed that Turkey is carrying out attacks against the Islamic State in northern Syria.

Colonel Steve Warren said on Thursday that Turkish artillery strikes against ISIS had a “very good effect in the Manbij pocket”, a 98-km (61-mile) strip along the Turkish border where rebels have long battling the militants.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said earlier in the day that Turkey had killed 200 ISIS members along the borders with Syria and Iraq. He framed the attacks as retaliation for Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Istanbul which killed 10 people and wounded 15.

However, Warren indicated that the Turkish attacks had been coordinated with the US in the military campaign against the Islamic State:

There were some weather problems; we were having difficulty providing the type of air power we wanted to provide, and the Turks filled in with artillery fire. So it was perfect. It happened the way it was supposed to happen.

In another sign of warning Turkish-US relations, the head of Central Command, General Lloyd Austin, commended Ankara’s effort to seal its border to prevent the flow of foreign fighters.

Earlier this week, Turkish officials again asked Washington to support a safe haven in the “pocket” on the Syrian border, during a visit by the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff to Ankara.


2nd Phase of Truce Agreement Begins in Opposition-Held Area of Homs

The second phase of a truce agreement in opposition-held al-Wa’er in Homs City has begun, with rebels handing over weapons in exchange for the release of at least 7,000 detainees from regime prisons.

A rebel negotiator from al-Waer told Syria Direct that the arrangement had been confirmed in a meeting at the end of last week.

Arabic news site al-Wafad said Tuesday that the regime allowed the entrance of 28 UN and Syrian Red Crescent aid trucks into the district this week.

Al-Wa’er, which has still has about 75,000 residents, has been surrounded by regime forces since November 2013. Rebels evacuated other parts of Homs, Syria’s 3rd-largest city, in spring 2014. Trying to break resistance in the remaining district, the Syrian military maintained the siege and bombardment of al-Wa’er.

In early December 2015, a truce was agreeed, with the evacuation of some rebels to northern Syria. However, the siege has been maintained with restricted movement of goods, including a ban on salt, canned foods, and certain types of meat. The rebel negotiator said many residents are barred from leaving al-Waer while others endure “long interrogations”.

The truce was also challenged by claims of regime mistreatment of civilians and the killing by pro-regime militias of rebels from the al-Huda al-Islamiya Brigade.

Some residents greeted this week’s developments with hope. “Life is slowly returning to the neighborhood,” said Abu Jalal al-Ghantawi.

However, others remain wary.

“We are relatively happy with the truce’s progress, however, we are still cautious going forward because we have seen the regime break the truce’s terms before and we expect them to do so again,” Walid a-Samra said.