Eight people reportedly died last month from a lack of proper medical care in a besieged Syrian town that was the site of a 2013 chemical weapons attack, the U.N. has said.
In a Sunday update, the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported a “sharp deterioration of the humanitarian situation” in Moadimayet al-Sham, southwest of Damascus.
The issue of sieges in Syria, imposed mostly by government forces, but also by rebels and ISIS, has been raised frequently by the United Nations and aid groups.
It has become a sticking point in new peace talks in Geneva, with the main opposition delegation refusing to begin talks with the government until sieges are lifted.