Editor's note: This video contains graphic content. Warnings of widespread starvation are growing as pro-government forces besiege an opposition-held town in Syria. (Reuters) 
 
 Editor's note: This video contains graphic content. Warnings of widespread starvation are growing as pro-government forces besiege an opposition-held town in Syria. (Reuters) 
 
 Aid agencies expressed alarm Thursday about dire conditions in a besieged town west of Damascus where people have been eating cats and grass to stay alive and as many as 23 people are reported to have died of hunger. 
 
 No food has arrived in the rural town of Madaya since October, and desperate residents have posted photographs on the Internet showing frail, skeletal corpses and emaciated people, including children. 
 
 The medical charity Doctors Without Borders said 23 people have died of starvation since Dec. 1 at a clinic the group supports in Madaya, six of them infants less than 1 year old. 
 
 The town has become “an open-air prison,” Brice de le Vingne, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement. Desperate people who try to flee have been injured or killed by bullets or by land mines planted around the town, he added. 
 
 According to Hassan Abu Shadi, a rescue worker in Madaya, one or two people have been dying daily of hunger over the past week, since snow fell on the mountain town and blanketed the last remaining vegetation. 
 
 This undated photo posted by the Local Revolutionary Council in Madaya, which has been verified and is consistent with other Associated Press reporting, shows a starving boy in Madaya, Syria. (AP) 
 
 “We were eating leaves and grass, but these days there are no more leaves because of the snow,” he said, speaking by telephone. “There is nothing left but salt and water.” 
 
 The United Nations said in a statement that it has received “credible” reports of people dying of starvation and being killed while trying to leave the town. It welcomed what it said was a commitment from the Syrian government to allow aid to be delivered soon. 
 
 Madaya is an opposition stronghold that has been besieged by pro-government forces since July. The United Nations put the number of people trapped in the town at 42,000, but Doctors Without Borders said there were 20,000. 
 
 [Russian airstrikes force a halt to aid in Syria, triggering a new crisis] 
 
 Fighting over Madaya, which fell into rebel hands in 2012, was supposed to have ended last summer under a cease-fire deal that also encompassed two rebel-surrounded towns in northern Syria. According to the terms of the cease-fire, rebel fighters from Madaya and nearby Zabadani were escorted by the United Nations to Turkey, and government loyalists from the towns of Foua and Kefraya were permitted to leave for government-held areas of Syria. 
 
 The deal stipulated that food aid and other supplies be allowed to reach civilians inside the towns. But only one delivery was made to Madaya, on Oct. 18, and residents since then have almost entirely run out of food. 
 
 The United Nations pointed out that it requires Syrian government permission to send food aid to the estimated 400,000 needy people living in various areas around Syria that are besieged by government forces. But in the past year, only 10 percent of requests have been granted, the United Nations said. 
 
 People are going hungry in many of those locations, but ­Madaya appears to be the worst-afflicted by far. 
 
 [Is it too late to solve the mess in the Middle East?] 
 
 The Syrian government has long used siege tactics to compel the surrender of towns that 
 
 fell under rebel control during 
 
 the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. At the entrance to Madaya, Abu Shadi said, pro-Assad fighters have hung a sign proclaiming “Kneel or starve,” a slogan intended to capture the stark choice confronting rebels in the besieged communities. 
 
 He said most of the fighters surrounding the town belong to the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which supports Assad and has been leading the battle to recapture Syrian towns in the vicinity of the nearby Lebanese border. 
 
 Hezbollah denied the allegations, saying that rebels were preventing residents from leaving. “Terrorist groups are exclusively responsible for starving out the civilians in the town,” said a report carried on the website of Hezbollah’s al-Manar television station. The towns of Foua and Kefraya also have not received aid, the report said. 
 
 Although the reports of starvation deaths cannot be independently confirmed, videos and photographs posted on social ­media showing emaciated people suggest that conditions are dire. In one, a mother is shown feeding her gaunt 16-month-old daughter sips of jam diluted with water, because, she says, there is no 
 
 milk. A photo circulated Tuesday showed the skeletal frame of a man who had died of hunger that day. 
 
 The United Nations said the Syrian government promised Thursday to allow aid to be delivered “in the coming days” to Madaya as well as the two northern towns surrounded by rebels. 
 
 Read more: 
 
 Videos appear to show starvation used as a weapon in Syrian town of Madaya 
 
 Haunting images from Aleppo: ‘Syrian children are at the heart of this catastrophe’ 
 
 U.N. Security Council approves plan for Syrian peace process ||||| BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian government has agreed to allow humanitarian assistance into three beleaguered villages following reports of deaths from malnutrition in that part of the country, a U.N. official said Thursday. 
 
 This undated photo posted on the Local Revolutionary Council in Madaya, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows a starving boy in Madaya, Syria. The Syrian government... (Associated Press) 
 
 Meanwhile, the aid group Doctors Without Borders said 23 patients have died of starvation at an MSF-supported health center in one of the three villages since Dec. 1 — including six infants under 1 years of age and five adults over the age of 60. 
 
 A statement from Yacoub El Hillo, U.N.'s Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, said aid will begin entering the villages in the coming days. 
 
 Two of the villages in question are the adjacent Shiite villages of Foua and Kfarya in the country's north, which have been besieged by anti-government militants for more than a year. The third is the village of Madaya near the border with Lebanon, which has been under siege by government forces since early July. 
 
 "The UN welcomes today's approval from the government of Syria to access Madaya, Foua and Kfarya and is preparing to deliver humanitarian assistance in the coming days," said El Hillo. 
 
 Activists have said that several people have died over the past weeks in both areas because of malnutrition. There are currently some 30,000 people in the two Shiite villages and an even higher number in Madaya. 
 
 "Almost 42,000 people remaining in Madaya are at risk of further hunger and starvation," El Hillo warned. 
 
 El Hillo said the U.N. is particularly concerned about the plight of nearly 400,000 people besieged by parties to the conflict in areas including the eastern city of Deir el-Zour as well as the Damascus suburbs known as eastern Ghoua. 
 
 In the meantime, Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has repeatedly denied U.N. requests to deliver aid to specific areas. 
 
 "In the last year, only 10 percent of all requests for U.N. inter-agency convoys to hard-to-reach and besieged areas were approved and delivered," the statement said. 
 
 He added that up to 4.5 million people in Syria live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations who do not have access to the life-saving aid they urgently need. 
 
 The conflict that began in March 2011 has killed more than 250,000 people and wounded more than a million. The crisis has also displaces half of Syria's pre-war 23 million people. 
 
 From Brussels, Doctors Without Borders also called for an immediate delivery of lifesaving medicine and medical evacuations, in addition to food supplies to Madaya, where it reported the 23 deaths from starvation. 
 
 After the last, single food delivery in October, the siege of the village had tightened into a complete stranglehold, MSF said. 
 
 "Madaya is now effectively an open-air prison for an estimated 20,000 people, including infants, children and elderly," said Brice de le Vingne, MSF director of operations. 
 
 "This is a clear example of the consequences of using siege as a military strategy," de le Vingne added. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed to this report from the United Nations. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lyse Doucet reports there was joy and relief as aid arrived 
 
 An aid convoy has reached the besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya, bringing vital food and medicines. 
 
 Distribution will continue through the night to 40,000 people who have been trapped for six months by a government blockade and without aid since October. 
 
 The UN says it has received credible reports of people dying of starvation. 
 
 Simultaneously, aid lorries entered two villages besieged by rebel forces in the northern province of Idlib under a deal between the warring parties. 
 
 The situation in Foah and Kefraya is also said to be extremely dire, with an estimated 20,000 people trapped there since March. 
 
 The arrival of the aid was delayed until both sets of lorries were ready to enter. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption Distribution of supplies will continue through the night 
 
 Pawel Krzysiek, who is with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Madaya, said after arriving: "The people... were coming every five minutes asking, 'Listen, did you bring food, did you bring medicine?' 
 
 "Some are smiling and waving at us but many are just simply too weak, with a very bleak expression, too tired." 
 
 War of words - Lyse Doucet, chief international correspondent, BBC News, Beirut 
 
 This humanitarian mission was forged by a cruel conflict. Aid for rebel-held Madaya was contingent on help for government-controlled Foah and Kefraya. 
 
 Images of Madaya's emaciated children sparked alarm in many capitals and created greater impetus but they also provoked a war of words. 
 
 Supporters of the Syrian government and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies accused rebel forces in Madaya of seizing food for themselves. Some even mocked reports of starvation. The opposition charged President Assad's forces with more war crimes. 
 
 Today, Madaya is the face of Syria's suffering. Two years ago, it was Yarmouk. 
 
 These are moments that mobilise the world's sympathy but over the past year, only 10% of the UN's requests to deliver aid to people to in besieged and hard-to-reach areas were granted. That is where 4.5 million Syrians live. 
 
 Siege warfare in Syria 
 
 Syria's civilians living a 'life worse than death' 
 
 One resident, Hiba Abdel Rahman, 17, told Agence France-Presse: "For 15 days we have been eating only soup. 
 
 "I saw a young man killing cats and presenting the meat to members of his family as rabbit. Some people went through garbage bins, others ate grass. We sought food from the fighters but they refused to give it to us." 
 
 In total, some 44 lorries operated by the UN, the ICRC, the Syrian Red Crescent and the World Food Programme reached Madaya from the capital, Damascus. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption A few people have been given permission to leave Madaya 
 
 Another 21 entered Foah and Kefraya. 
 
 They were carrying basic food items - including rice, vegetable oil, flour, sugar and salt - as well as water, infant formula, blankets, medicines and surgical supplies. 
 
 Marianne Gasser, head of the ICRC's Syria delegation, said the deliveries should not be one-offs. 
 
 She said: "To relieve the suffering of these tens of thousands of people, there has to be regular access to these areas." 
 
 A few residents were given permission to leave and could be seen with belongings awaiting evacuation. 
 
 Madaya, which is about 25km (15 miles) north-west of Damascus and 11km from the border with Lebanon, been besieged since early July by government forces and their allies in Lebanon's Shia Islamist Hezbollah movement. 
 
 Brice de la Vigne from the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) described the situation in the town as "quite horrific". 
 
 Mr de la Vigne, whose organisation supports a health centre in Madaya, told the BBC that more than 250 people there had "acute malnutrition". 
 
 'Ambiguous information' in local media - BBC Monitoring 
 
 Madaya is a major talking point in the Arabic media, with attitudes ranging from sympathy for its trapped inhabitants to anger at allegedly fake imagery. 
 
 Two pan-Arab satellite television channels that take a firmly pro-rebel line - Saudi-funded Al-Arabiya and Qatar's Al Jazeera - say the Syrian government and its Hezbollah allies are "starving Madaya to death". 
 
 But Syrian state and allied media dismiss the "rumours". Al-Baath newspaper accuses Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiya of a "misleading campaign, using photos of displaced and sick people from all over the world", and says the rebels are using civilians as human shields, 
 
 Some commentators try to take a broader view. Muhammad Kharrub in the Jordanian newspaper, Al-Rai, complains that the rebels themselves are besieging government-held towns, and Mahir Maqlad in Egypt's Al-Ahram notes that both sides "keep their information ambiguous to suit their own interests". 
 
 MSF said on Sunday that a total of 28 people - including six children less than one year old - had died of starvation in Madaya since 1 December. 
 
 However, Hezbollah has denied that there have been any deaths in the town, and accused rebel leaders of preventing people from leaving. 
 
 Blockades have been a feature of Syria's civil war. Up to 4.5 million people live in hard-to-reach areas, including nearly 400,000 people in 15 besieged locations who do not have access to life-saving aid. 
 
 In a separate development on Monday, activists said at least 12 children had been killed in an air strike on a school in the rebel-held town of Ain Jara, in Aleppo province. 
 
 What's happening in Syria? 
 
 More than 250,000 Syrians have lost their lives in almost five years of conflict, which began with anti-government protests before escalating into a brutal civil war. More than 11 million others have been forced from their homes as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels opposed to his rule battle each other - as well as jihadist militants from Islamic State. 
 
 Why are civilians under siege? 
 
 All parties to the conflict are using siege warfare, encircling populated areas, preventing civilians from leaving and blocking humanitarian access in an attempt to force opponents to surrender. Shortages of food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel have led to malnutrition and deaths among vulnerable groups. 
 
 Where are the sieges? 
 
 Government forces are besieging various locations in the eastern Ghouta area, outside Damascus, as well as the capital's western suburb of Darayya and the nearby mountain towns of Zabadani and Madaya. Rebel forces have encircled the villages of Foah and Kefraya in the northern province of Idlib, while IS militants are besieging government-held areas in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour. ||||| Play Facebook 
 
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 An aid convoy entered the blockaded town of Madaya on Monday, bearing desperately-needed food and supplies for thousands of starving Syrians. 
 
 Horrific images of emaciated residents and tales of desperation have emerged from Madaya, which has been blockaded for six months by government and pro-government forces. 
 
 A group of people are waiting for the humanitarian #aid #convoy at an entrance to #Madaya. photo AFP pic.twitter.com/1kZLv5skU9 -Vivian Toumeh (@VToumeh) January 11, 2016 
 
 More than two dozen people — including at least six under the age of 1 — have died of starvation since Dec. 1, according to Doctors Without Borders, which called it an "open air prison" with no way in or out. Five died on Sunday. 
 
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 The United Nations warned that nearly 42,000 are at risk of hunger or starvation there, and a doctor in the town told NBC News that residents have resorted to eating cats. 
 
 The Syrian government agreed late last week to allow aid into Madaya and two other towns — Kefraya and Foua — where residents were facing starvation. 
 
 The U.N.-supported convoy set out on Monday with the Red Cross and Syrian Red Crescent and the first trucks were able to enter on Monday afternoon. 
 
 "Offloading of aid expected to last throughout night," a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross posted on Twitter. 
 
 The convoy was expected to bring food for around 40,000 people to last a month in Madaya, though the International Red Cross warned last week the trip could be dangerous. 
 
 "Whatever we bring in, it's not enough," said Iyad Nasr, a spokesman for the U.N.'s OCHA. He told NBC News that the U.N. and others were hoping for unconditional access to the town and other besieged villages.
– Residents of a Syrian town trapped in the nation's civil war are finally getting some desperately needed relief: UN convoys with food and medicine headed to Madaya on Monday, reports the BBC. Shocking stories have emerged about the plight of the estimated 40,000 people there. Doctors Without Borders says 28 people—including six babies—have starved to death since December 1, with another 250 people currently suffering from "acute malnutrition." The situation has become so dire that residents have resorted to eating cats, reports NBC News. The convoys also will deliver supplies to two other villages in northern Syria, reports the AP, and the New York Times has a more in-depth piece explaining what's happening. Madaya is controlled by anti-government forces but encircled by government troops, and the UN struck a deal last week to allow the aid. The bigger problem is that about 400,000 Syrians are believed to be trapped in similar situations elsewhere. "Using hunger as a weapon flies in the face of international law," notes the analysis. "Yet global and regional powers—like Russia, Iran, the United States and Saudi Arabia—are unable or unwilling to pressure their battlefield allies."