Humanitarian actors plan to reach more Syrian besieged areas: UN official

Humanitarian actors plan to reach 11 Syrian besieged areas, including the hitherto unreached towns of Zabdin, Arbin and Zamalka, in the coming days, Senior Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria Jan Egeland said Thursday.

This would include a follow-up food convoy for Darayya after the town received a limited humanitarian instalment in the form of medical and nutritional supplies for children for the first time since 2012.

Amid a stalled political peace process compounded by protracted fighting, these developments have been cautiously welcomed against the backdrop of last month's failure to reach the bulk of civilians in dire need of assistance in the war-torn country.

According to UN figures, 269,250 people out of the 592,000 civilians living in besieged areas have been reached so far in 2016.

A further 486,175 people living in hard to reach areas have been provided with multi-sectoral assistance since the beginning of the year.

Originally working with a list of 18 besieged areas, the UN has added the town of al-Waer to locations surrounded by warring factions.

"Al-Waer has 75,000 people and it's possibly the place with the worst nutritional situation of all of the besieged areas," Egeland warned.

Plans to implement airdrops to besieged areas which are denied access are also being finalized, but the start date for World Food Program (WFP)-conducted operations is contingent on developments on the ground.

Egeland explained that helicopters (as opposed to planes which are being used to relieve the east Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor) are the best option to carry out drops in dense urban areas, an operation that is not only costly but will also require clearance from the Syrian government. Endit