Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah has sent messages to UN Security Council president Elbio Rosselli, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and UN General Assembly president Mogens Lykketoft on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria, especially in Zabadani, Madaya, Bugen and Bludan towns which are suffering from the blockade imposed on  civilians.
The minister said in his messages that the blockade came as part of a systematic policy of the Syrian regime and its cronies by using starvation as a weapon, preventing food and medical supplies for the Syrian people as a collective punishment. It imposed a siege on populated areas as is the case in the neighbourhoods of the city of Homs and Eastern Ghouta and  towns like Darya and Moadamieh and Rural Damascus.
Al-Attiyah noted that in Madaya, the regime’s forces, supported by its militias, had imposed a tight siege in an attempt to give a choice of its population between starvation or kneeling to a system that continued to kill its people.
He said the regime’s forces and its militia allies prevented the arrival of  humanitarian aid and stopped people from getting out,  which resulted in a deteriorating and tragic  humanitarian situation leading to the death of more than 30 people  so far.  Around 40,000 people, he said, were threatened with starvation.
The minister stressed that the continued insistence of the Syrian regime and its cronies on the use of the siege of civilian areas, including the use policy of starvation as a weapon,  was a war crime.
Al-Attiyah said  that it was regretted that such crimes were being committed as the international community remained silent.
He commended the efforts undertaken by the UN to contribute to finding a political solution to the crisis in Syria and raise the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people, noting  the importance of doing everything possible to put an end to illegal actions that stand in the face of reaching a political solution.
He expressed confidence in the UN endeavours to address the dire humanitarian situation in Syria and lift the siege on Madaya and other areas.
He  expressed hope that necessary measures would be taken to ensure the delivery of emergency humanitarian assistance promptly and regularly to trapped civilians in Madaya and other besieged areas.