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Critical aid expected to reach all besieged areas in Syria in coming days: UN official

Xinhua, February 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Senior Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria Jan Egeland said Thursday that since the first Task Force on Humanitarian Access meeting was convened last week to discuss the challenges and procedures of delivering aid in Syria, substantial progress has been made as vital supplies reach five besieged areas in the war-torn country.

"I am happy to say that we can report progress since the first meeting a week ago," he said upon concluding the second Task Force on Humanitarian Access meeting in Geneva's Palais des Nations.

"In the last twenty four hours, 114 big trucks delivered life-saving humanitarian supplies to 80,000 people in five besieged areas, and that is the beginning of the task that we were assigned to undertake by the plenary meeting of the Support Group for Syria in Munich," the official explained.

The next phase is to reach all remaining besieged areas, something Egeland hopes to achieve before representatives of International Syria Support Group (ISSG) members meet again in a week.

"We will also hope then to have progress in reaching the poor people inside of Dei ez-Zor which is as you know besieged by the Islamic State," Egeland highlighted, adding "that can only be done by airdrops and the World Food Programme (WFP) has now a concrete plan of doing so."

The UN hopes to provide 18 besieged areas with life-saving supplies through sustained and holistic assistance.

Some 4.5 million Syrians live in areas that are hard to reach for the humanitarian community. Endit