Aid workers call the situation in Madaya, Syria, 'heartbreaking'

Residents of Madaya, Syria, wait for humanitarian aid.
(Image credit: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

Aid workers who delivered food, medicine, and blankets to the besieged town of Madaya, Syria, on Monday say that what they saw was "heartbreaking."

Madaya has not received a commercial or humanitarian delivery since October, and has been under siege by the Assad regime for seven months. Workers said the hospitals no longer have medicine, children are so hungry they're physically unable to play, and new mothers are suffering from malnutrition and unable to produce milk, The Wall Street Journal reports. Residents of the town told aid workers they have been eating stray cats and dogs and trying to survive off of boiling water with spices.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.