Forced Starvation in Syria Could Amount to Crime Against Humanity - UN

GENEVA (Sputnik) — Last week, the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) aid group reported that 16 people died from starvation in the besieged western Syrian town of Madaya in January. The statement added that there were 320 registered cases of malnutrition in Madaya, home to some 20,000.

"When looking most recently at the forced starvation of Madaya and there are 15 more besieged towns and cities, this is not just a war crimes but crimes against humanity if proven. And these are very serious issues," Hussein told reporters in a briefing at the ongoing Syrian peace talks in Geneva.

According to MSF, there are up to 2 million people in besieged areas within Syria, with no evacuations on medical grounds permitted and medical equipment, medicines and therapeutic food repeatedly blocked at checkpoints.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011. Some 13.5 million Syrians require humanitarian assistance, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). While millions have been internally displaced since the start of the conflict, another two million people remain trapped in areas besieged by both government and rebel forces.

On January 15, the Russian military announced the start of a humanitarian operation in Syria to help people trapped in Islamist-besieged towns be evacuated, primarily to the government-held city of Deir Ez-Zor in the northeast of the country. Medical and humanitarian supplies have been airlifted to the towns in question by the Syrian Air Force.