January 31, 2016 - MIDDLE EAST - At least 16 more people have died of starvation in the besieged Syrian
town of Madaya since an aid convoy entered earlier this month, according
to Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Iraq says it needs $1.56 billion in 2016 to alleviate the humanitarian
crisis caused by the war against Islamic State, a government report
states. Baghdad has been affected by falling oil revenues and has called
on the international community for help. Two bomb blasts have struck the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus. Meanwhile, at least 30 people were killed and 40 wounded in twin blasts in the
mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood, Syria's Interior Ministry reported.
16 more starve to death in Syria's besieged Madaya: MSF
Several dozen more residents of the town are in "danger of death" because of severe malnutrition, the humanitarian group warned.
The latest deaths were reported as the Syrian Red Crescent told AFP it had gained rare access on Saturday to Madaya and two other besieged towns to assess humanitarian needs.
MSF said the additional deaths in Madaya brought to 46 the number of people reported to have died of starvation in the town since December.
It said real toll could be worse.
"The real number is almost certainly higher, as MSF is aware of reports of people dying of starvation in their homes."Located in Damascus province, Madaya is under government siege, and its fate has been one of the sticking points for fresh peace talks on the Syrian conflict that opened on Friday in Geneva after delays.
Syria's opposition wants to see the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions demanding an end to sieges before committing to new negotiations.
Madaya is one of four towns included in a rare deal last year that was intended to halt fighting and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
But despite the deal, the UN and other aid groups have had only limited access to Madaya, along with rebel-held Zabadani, and the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, which are under opposition siege.
Conditions in Madaya have reportedly been among the worst, with about 42,000 civilians there surrounded by government troops who have laid mines around the town to prevent people leaving.
While the government has some ability to airdrop supplies to Fuaa and Kafraya, the opposition has no similar capacity.
Aid groups have regularly urged continuous aid access to all four towns, as well as the evacuation of those with malnutrition or other illnesses.
- 'Unhindered medical access' -
Citing medics it supports in the town, MSF said there were at least 320 cases of malnutrition in Madaya, including 33 that were so severe that the individuals could die without prompt treatment.
"It is totally unacceptable that people continue to die from starvation, and that critical medical cases remain in the town when they should have been evacuated weeks ago," said MSF's director of operations Brice de le Vingne.
"The warring parties responsible for these besiegement strategies need to allow unhindered medical and humanitarian access immediately," he added.
After the September deal for the four towns, an initial aid delivery was made, but no subsequent assistance was allowed in until January 11, after reports of deaths in Madaya.
Additional convoys of food and medicine entered Madaya, Fuaa and Kafraya on January 14, and then all four towns on January 19,
On Saturday, the Syrian Red Crescent's operations chief Tamam Mehrez told AFP it had been able to enter Madaya, Fuaa and Kafraya to carry out humanitarian assessments.
"Our teams today entered Madaya in Damascus province, and Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib province, as part of periodic access to check on the sick and review critical situations," he said.
He said he could not provide further details until the visits were finished, but added that the teams were not delivering aid.
The UN estimates around 486,700 Syrians are living under sieges imposed by the regime, rebels or the Islamic State group.
The UN's aid chief said this week that 75 percent of its requests for aid deliveries in Syria went unanswered by the government.
Stephen O'Brien told the UN Security Council that access to hard-to-reach areas was "simply not happening" and that the Syrian government had yet to give approval to most planned relief convoys. -
Yahoo.
Iraq needs $1.5bn in humanitarian aid amid ISIS onslaught & funding gap
The Iraqi government stated in its report, which was released Sunday, that it will only be able to provide less than 43 percent of the necessary humanitarian aid from its state budget.
"The international community is necessary for bridging the deficit or financing gap," it added, as cited by Reuters.
On Sunday, the UN issued an appeal for $861 million in order to help Iraq meet its funding gap, as it presses to help those displaced.
"With the expanding needs, the allocation through the federal budget will not be sufficient. We expect that the highly prioritised (UN) Humanitarian Response Plan will help cover part of the gap," Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displacement Jassim Mohammed al-Jaff said in a statement, according to Reuters.
Iraq has been ravaged by the conflict with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), after the terrorist group seized large areas of territory in the summer of 2014. The war has seen more than 3.3 million people displaced as they have tried to flee the fighting, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Meanwhile, at least 18,800 civilians were killed and 36,240 wounded in violence in Iraq from January 2014 to October 2015, according to the United Nations.
The Iraqi government allocated around $850 million in 2015 to help with the humanitarian effort. However, they were only able to find less than 60 percent of the sum, the report stated, according to Reuters.
The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) highlighted the humanitarian problem by stating that the international community may be too focused on the threat posed by IS and was ignoring the plight of millions of refugees.
The organization added that the amount of humanitarian aid should be scaled up in proportion to the escalation of military operations. MSF says that if this is not done, then the gap between the needs and the aid that is actually being provided will only widen.
Iraq’s position has been hampered by falling oil prices, but also because IS have seized some of the country’s oil wells. In October, a spokesman for the Iraq Oil Ministry said that Baghdad was losing up to 400,000 barrels of oil a day.
According to the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report, Iraq produced 4.14 million barrels per day in September. The country is the cartel's second biggest crude producer after Saudi Arabia. However, IS has been using the oil reserves under its control, which it is selling on the black market, to help finance its reign of terror.
In December, Russia
accused Turkey of helping IS in the illegal oil trade, which helps finance the terrorist group.
In October 2014, the US Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said Islamic State was earning $1 million a day from oil sales. -
RT.
At least 30 killed, 40 wounded in Damascus suburb bombings, ISIS claims responsibility
The Islamic State terrorist group has taken responsibility for the attacks.
According to the television station of Lebanon's militant Shiite Hezbollah group, the attacks took place in the Sayeda Zeinab district, where Syria's major Shiite shrine is located.
Syrian state television reported that "two terrorist blasts, one of them a car bomb, followed by a suicide bomber," took place in the Sayyida Zeinab area.
It said there was "information about deaths and injuries," but gave no further details.
The Sayyida Zeinab mosque, which contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed, is revered as a pilgrimage site by Shiite Muslims.
The site has been targeted before, including in February 2015, when a blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese Shiite pilgrims headed to Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least nine people, in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, AFP reported.
Also last year in February, two suicide attacks killed four people and wounded 13 at a checkpoint near the shrine.
State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the heavily populated area in the south of the city.
The explosions took place as representatives of Syria's government and the opposition began gathering in Geneva for the first UN-mediated peace talks in two years. The United Nations says the challenge could be six months of talks, seeking a ceasefire and finding a political settlement to a war that has killed over 250,000 people and left over 1 million injured. -
RT.