World Food Programme airdrops food to besieged city in Syria

The World Food Programme (WFP) this week carried out two successful high-altitude airdrops over the besieged eastern city of Deir Ezzour in Syria, enough to feed 4,300 people for one month, said a UN spokesman Wednesday.

The two airdrops, totaling 40 metric tons of urgently needed food assistance, were carried out on April 10 and 13, respectively, said Stephane Dujarric.

At the same time, the number of people in Syria being assisted by UN cross-border convoys from Turkey and Jordan continues to grow, he said.

"The average number of people receiving food assistance through UN cross-border convoys each month now stands at nearly 376,000 people -- almost twice the average number of people compared to the same time in 2015," he said.

Since the launch of UN cross-border deliveries in 2014, convoys have provided more than 2.7 million people with food assistance.

Much more is required to reach the 13.5 million people in Syria who are in need of aid.

Also on Wednesday, the head of a UN-mandated body tasked with identifying those behind chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian civil war, Virginia Gamba, briefed the Security Council on the progress made on the investigation. according to Dujarric.

Gamba, head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations Joint Investigative Mechanism, said that since the last progress report in March, investigators have visited Syria and other countries in the region to discuss relevant information on the nine cases under the mechanism's investigation.

A progress report on the ongoing work of the investigative teams is expected in June, followed by a comprehensive report in August. Endit