The towns have been besieged since last year, with aid convoys allowed only sporadically to replenish food and medical stocks. BEIRUT — The top U.N. official in Syria on Monday demanded immediate and unconditional humanitarian access to tens of thousands of people trapped in four towns, warning of starvation. Jan Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian adviser for Syria, said last week that only 60 percent of people in besieged areas have “really gotten help.”Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. For each medical evacuation from a government-besieged town, for example, a patient must be evacuated from a town besieged by rebels, and vice versa. Aid group Doctors Without Borders says 16 people died in Madaya from siege conditions in January, even after aid was allowed in.

Source: Washington Post July 04, 2016 11:15 UTC