Syrian woman starves to death in besieged Madaya

A Syrian woman starved to death on Thursday in the Syrian town of Madaya, taking the death toll in the besieged town to 18, a local medical center said.

Located northwest of capital Damascus, Madaya has been reeling under a crippling siege by Syrian regime forces and allied militants of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.

Only two humanitarian aid conveys — both dispatched by the UN — have made it into the town, which is home to 40,000 people.

“The aid has failed to alleviate the gravity of the humanitarian crisis in the town,” medic Mohamed Youssef told Anadolu Agency.

He said the UN and Red Cross response to aid appeal has been “very poor.”

“Dozens of patients, including children, are in a dire need for medical assistance,” he said.

The Syria conflict, which will enter its sixth year in March, has left more than 250,000 people dead, and has turned the country into the world’s largest source of refugees and displaced persons, according to the UN.

Nearly eight million victims are internally displaced, and more than four million have fled the country since the conflict started.