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Three women from the besieged town of Madaya, west of the Syrian capital Damascus, were killed after being hit by artillery shells while attending a funeral on Thursday evening.

"Hizballah and Syrian regime forces targeted a funeral with mortars and artillery shells leading the deaths of at least three women," media activist Abdul Wahab told °®Âþµº, adding that dozens of others were left injured.  

"The intensity of the bombing made many mourners flee, while the dead and wounded were left in the area for more than an hour," he added.

More than 40,000 civilians are trapped in Zabadani and Madaya under a blockade.

"People are suffering from a new kind of hunger... no kind of humanitarian aid has entered the area since May," local sources told °®Âþµº.

Diseases are spreading among residents, threatening the lives of many.

According to the United Nations, there are currently 592,700 people living under siege in Syria. The vast majority of this number – some 452,700 people – are besieged by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

In January, the regime's siege of Madaya saw dozens die of starvation with mounting public pressure forcing the UN aid to act.

Aid deliveries to the suburb have taken place, but the amounts delivered have been short of what residents say is needed to sustain life.

Since then, others have died – particularly infants – from starvation and hunger-related issues.

Desperate residents in some besieged areas have been forced to eat dogs or cook soups made from leaves and tree bark – with no nutritional value – to stave off hunger.