IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Madaya Siege: Second Aid Convoy Heads for Starving Syrian Town

Forty-four aid trucks carrying food and other kinds of aid had left Damascus and were headed to the town near the border with Lebanon.
Get more newsLiveon

A second wave of aid trucks headed for the besieged and starving Syrian town of Madaya on Thursday morning, according to the International Committee for the Red Cross.

Image: A convoy of aid from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent leaves the capital Damascus
The aid convoy leaves Damascus for the besieged town of Madaya.LOUAI BESHARA / AFP - Getty Images

Horrific images of emaciated residents and tales of desperation have emerged from Madaya, a town of some 40,000 residents that has been besieged by pro-Syrian government forces for months.

One aid convoy made it to Madaya on Monday but officials said the locals were in need of much more assistance.

Pawel Krzysiek, an ICRC spokesman, said that on Tuesday 44 aid trucks carrying food and other kinds of aid had left the Syrian capital of Damascus and were driving to Madaya, near the border with Lebanon.

Another 21 aid trucks were headed to Foua and Kefraya — towns surrounded by rebels fighting the Syrian regime that were also facing starvation — Krzysiek said.

Related: Aid Worker Warns Time Is Running Out for Desperately Sick in Starving Town

Doctors Without Borders called Madaya an "open air prison" with no way in or out and has said that more than two dozen people — including at least six under the age of 1 — have died of starvation there since Dec. 1.

A doctor in the town told NBC News that residents have resorted to eating cats.