By Sebastien Malo
NEW YORK, July 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Nearly 90 people have died from starvation and other causes during a year-old siege of the Syrian town of Madaya, where residents have been trapped without supplies, two medical organizations said on Tuesday.
Government forces and allies have surrounded Madaya since July 2015 as part of Syria’s six-year civil war, and the town of 40,000 people came to symbolize suffering after photos of emaciated children and reports of residents forced to eat leaves emerged this year.
Sixty-five people have died from malnutrition and starvation in Madaya in the past year, according to a report by the U.S.-based Physicians for Human Rights and the Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS).
Another 21 people died from landmines, sniper fire and a case of a chronic health condition, according to the report’s list of deaths attributed to the siege.
