Shocking images from Syria reveal starvation as the latest weapon of war
The images which, against the odds, made it out of the town of Madaya have not only shocked a world that had thought it had grown used to the horrors of Syria's conflict - they also shone a spotlight on a growing tactic of war used by all sides.
Warning: Some people may find images contained within this report distressing
Madaya is a town close to Damascus. It is barely an hour away from the cafés and restaurants of Beirut, and about the same distance away from the Syrian capital.
But in terms of what it is going through, it is a world away.
Its 40,000 people living there have been beseiged by Syrian government forces and their Hezbollah militia allies from Lebanon.
The last time any food aid got through was back in October.
The result has been a population subjected to a very basic but very cruel form of warfare harking back to the medieval times - starvation.
Footage from Madaya show children as well as adults looking severely malnourished and skeletal.
Children as young as 14 months are only being fed meagre amounts of water mixed in with a tiny amount of jam and young men, equally emaciated as the young children, poisoned by the wild herbs they have been foraging for.
The UN says the Syrian government has said it can now send food aid trucks into Madaya.
Dr Mohamed Youssef is one of the few doctors operating in the town. He says that there has been no children's milk in Madaya for seven months.
He appeals to the UN to intervene immediately, saying the entire 40,000 people in the town face death by starvation.
Yet as Greg Barrow of the UN World Food Programme told ITV News, Madaya is one glaring example of a tactic of war used by all sides and there were possibly up to 20,000 Syrians across the country facing a similiar plight.
Two other towns, northern Idlib province are also due to get food aid. They too have been besieged for months.
Unlike Madaya though, they are being besieged by rebel forces as their populations are deemed to be supporters of the Syrian government of President Bashar Al Assad.