Untangling Madaya Starvation Story: How is that a Master's candidate does a better job than Associated Press and New York Times? UPDATED

UPDATE
Paul Antonopoulos wrote to inform me that the Al-Masdar website I described as Yemeni is actually based in Lebanon and not connected with the Yemeni (or Israeli) sites of the same name. See his comment, below. 
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Here is the latest Associated Press report on the situation, AID TRUCKS ENTER BESIEGED SYRIA TOWNS AND VILLAGES by Albert Aji; January 11, 2016; 10:54am EST.

Here is the latest New York Times report, Aid Convoys Head for Madaya and Other Starving Syrian Towns by Anne Barnard; January 11, 2016

Now, here is a report published by Al-Masdar News as an opinion piece, Madaya: Why would Assad starve his own supporters? by Paul Antonopoulos; January 7, 2015.

This was followed on January 9, 2015 with Analyzing Madaya’s Starvation Falsification by Paul Antonopoulos, again published by Al-Masdar News as an opinion piece

From Al-Masdar: Paul Antonopoulos is currently a Candidate for an MA Degree, writing his dissertation on the Saudi-Iranian Geopolitical Rivalry in the Syrian War. You can follow him on twitter: https://twitter.com/oulosP

Al-Masdar is an independent Yemeni news outlet based in Sana'a, Yemen's capital.

Associated Press at least makes an attempt to view the situation in unbiased fashion, but the AP report doesn't provide enough background to allow the reader an understanding of the situation in Madaya. The January 7 report from Paul Antonpoulos is the background, so that when you read the New York Times report and even the AP one, it's as if you've fallen down the rabbit hole. 

There's not much else I can write as introduction to Antopoulous' January 7 report, except that one doesn't need Arabic to understand the gist of the video of the street demonstration in Madaya, which is vehemently pro-Assad. 

The residents of Madaya are being held captive by so-called rebels who are actually key allies of the al Qaeda franchise in Syria, and who've stolen food deliveries that Assad's government has made to the residents, and then what food the terrorist group did release to the residents they sold at exorbitant prices. End of story.

Unless I want to add that either the U.S. government stops all support to mercenary proxy armies in Syria, or risks facing charges of war crimes before Obama leaves office.

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