A handout image made available by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)on January 12, 2016 shows a relief convoy carrying aid entering the besieged Syrian town of Madaya. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent said 44 trucks loaded with food and other aid entered the rebel-held town, while 21 other trucks went to the government-controlled towns of Fuaa and Kafraya. (Photo: AFP)
A senior ICRC official said Thursday there was a "window of opportunity" to lift the sieges of Syrian towns and deliver aid to civilians facing starvation in the nearly five-year war.
The International Committee of the Red Cross negotiated with the Syrian government, a myriad of armed groups and regional powers for nearly four months to allow aid convoys to reach three besieged towns this week.
"There is possibly now a window of opportunity based on this positive development to make a significant step forward (...) in terms of lifting these sieges and stop with these medieval tactics of besieging towns and villages, and depriving people of humanitarian assistance," said Dominik Stillhart, director of operations at ICRC.
Stillhart told a news conference that talks were focussed on "keeping the pipeline open" and argued that it was not possible to negotiate access "village by village."
A convoy of 44 trucks loaded with flour and other items entered the town of Madaya on Thursday, the second convoy to reach the town where residents told AFP they had been surviving on soup made from boiled grass.
Seventeen truckloads were to deliver aid to the villages of Fuaa and Kafraya in the northwest.
The ICRC is planning to return to Madaya on Sunday to deliver fuel, Stillhart told a news conference.
The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said Wednesday that the permanent Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- had pledged to take "immediate action" to push for deliveries of aid to besieged areas.
Humanitarian aid access is seen as a key confidence-building measure ahead of peace talks planned for January 25 in Geneva.
The United Nations is struggling to deliver aid to about 4.5 million Syrians who live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged areas.
The Security Council has adopted resolutions demanding an end to the sieges, but these have been largely ignored.
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