A convoy of dozens of aid trucks departed from Damascus on Thursday on their way to the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, the second delivery there this week, a humanitarian official and a Reuters witness said.

A spokesman for International Committee of the Red Cross said 44 aid trucks were heading to Madaya, where 40,000 people have been besieged by pro-Syrian government forces for months.

Twenty-one others were heading to two Shi'ite villages, al-Foua and Kefraya, surrounded by rebels in the northwest, some 300 km (200 miles) from Madaya.

Aid was also delivered to al-Foua and Kefraya on Monday.

A UN official told Reuters on Monday that UN and relief agency workers saw starving people in two besieged Syrian areas where aid deliveries were made on Monday.

Local doctors say some have starved to death in Madaya. Opposition activists say dozens have died.

On Monday trucks carrying food and medical supplies reached Madaya, near the Lebanese border.