Hizballah supporters taunt starving Madaya residents with food pictures

While dozens of Syrian civilians in besieged opposition-held Madaya have starved to death, supporters of Hizballah and the Syrian regime have taunted the dying with images of food on Twitter
2 min read
09 January, 2016
Syrian regime and Hizballah supporters have taunted starving Madaya residents with pictures of food

Supporters of Hizballah and the Syrian regime are taunting starving residents of besieged Madaya by posting pictures of food on social media.

Hizballah militants and regime troops have blockaded the village for 200 days, leading to dozens of civilians dying from starvation and hunger-related diseases - including many children.

On Friday, supporters of the Syrian regime and Hizballah posted pictures of thyme pastries, chips, bread, vegetables, and even fully stocked fridges.

A hashtag was started to encourage more opponents of the Syrian revolution to taunt the starving civilians of Madaya by posting pictures of their meals.

"In Solidarity with the siege of Madaya" comes days after thousands used the Twitter hashtag "In solidarity with Madaya" to post images of victims of the siege, and show the world starving children on the brink of death.

It began on Friday with a Facebook post from one Lebanese supporter of the Syrian regime of a picture of manaqeesh - an Arabic pastry - and a full bowl of fresh vegetables.

He mockingly asked his Facebook friends to think of a hashtag to show "solidarity with Madaya" and post more images of food.

The post appears to have been removed by the Bashar al-Assad supporter a day later, perhaps due to the backlash.

Since then, thousands have used the hashtag to mock the starving of Madaya, while many more have used it to attack callous Hizballah supporters.


The Red Cross said on Saturday, that workers would not be able to get critically needed aid to the Syrian town until Sunday.

It is expected that more than 50 people could die from hunger or disease each day that aid does not arrive.