Patriarch laments plight of Syrian town whose residents are starving

January 14, 2016

As food aid reached Madaya, a Syrian city under siege by government forces, the head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church said that the starving residents are being used as “human shields” by armed gangs, rebel groups, and fighters affiliated with the Islamic State.

“As a Church, we don’t have access to the town,” Patriarch Gregory III Laham told AsiaNews. “We know that sending aid is risky, because, like elsewhere, [it] often ends up in the hands of criminal gangs and terrorist groups.”

 

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Further information:

• For Patriarch Laham, Madaya is hostage to armed gangs and terrorists with aid at risk (AsiaNews.it)
• Madaya: 'Horrifying conditions' in besieged Syrian town (BBC)
• Starving Syrian town: How did Madaya get so desperate? (CNN)