Inter-agency convoys deliver humanitarian aid to two besieged towns in Syria

Inter-agency convoys on Wednesday delivered critical life-saving assistance to two besieged towns in Rural Damascus -- Darayya and Moadamiyeh, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday.

"This is the first time that the UN has been able to deliver any assistance to Darayya since November 2012," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing.

The Darayya convoy delivered medicine, nutritional items for children and vaccines, while technical teams are assessing needs on the ground for future deliveries, Dujarric said.

"The humanitarian situation in Darayya is dire, characterized by severe shortages of food, medicine, medical equipment and supplies, health facilities and personnel," he said.

"The UN is strongly advocating for another convoy to Darayya containing food in the days to come," the spokesman said.

The Moadamiyeh convoy is the first of three planned convoys, bringing food for half of those in need, he said, adding that it is the fifth convoy to the town this year, but the first time the UN has had access since March.

Daraya, which lies in Western Ghouta outside the Syrian capital of Damascus, has been under an increasingly tight siege since 2012, with no access to essential services, such as running water and electricity, reports said.

Last week, Russia called for a 72-hour "regime of silence" in Eastern Ghouta and Daraya amid deadlocked efforts to turn a cessation of hostilities into a lasting peace in the war-torn Middle East country.

The United States and Russia are co-partners in the so-called Vienna diplomatic process of the International Support Group for Syria, which met last month in the Austrian capital but made no notable progress.

At least 280,000 people have been reportedly killed and more than half of Syria's population have fled their homes since the political crisis and subsequent armed conflict broke out in March 2011. Enditem