An aid convoy entered a besieged Syrian town on Monday where thousands are trapped and the United Nations says people are reported to have died of starvation Reuters reported on Mon Jan 11, 2016.
Red Crescent trucks carrying food and medical supplies traveling with U.N. vehicles entered Madaya near the Lebanese border as part of an agreement between warring sides.
At least 10 people are said to have starved to death in the town and activists say some inhabitants have been reduced to eating leaves.
Another convoy simultaneously entered two Shi’ite villages, al Foua and Kefraya in the northwestern province of Idlib 300 km (200 miles) away, a U.N. source said.
Madaya is besieged by pro-Syrian government forces, while the two villages in Idlib province are encircled by rebels fighting the Syrian government.
The blockade of Madaya has become a focal issue for Syrian opposition leaders, who told a U.N. envoy last week they would not take part in talks with the government, slated for later this month, until it and other sieges are lifted.

U.N. officials say there have been credible reports of people dying of starvation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the war, puts the toll at 10, while opposition activists say it is in the dozens.
One opposition activist has said people were eating leaves and plants.
The Madaya blockade began six months ago by the Syrian army and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.
residents gathered outdoors waiting to receive aid.
Blockades have been a common feature of the nearly five-year-old war that has killed 250,000 people. Government forces have besieged rebel-held areas near Damascus for several years.
Aid agencies were hoping for easier access to the area following the ceasefire deal concluded under U.N. supervision.
Aid agencies have warned of widespread starvation in Madaya, where 40,000 people are at risk.
A newly formed opposition council set up to oversee negotiations has told U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura that this must happen before the talks he plans to hold on Jan. 25.
They also told him that before negotiations, Assad’s government, which has military support from Russia and Iran, must halt the bombardment of civilian areas and barrel bombing, and release detainees in line with the resolution.