UN and partners deliver critical relief supplies to besieged areas of Syria

“Yesterday’s mission was critical as it allowed humanitarian actors to reach thousands of people in these besieged and hard to reach locations with the needed assistance,” said OCHA in a press release.

The number of people reached is expected to rise to 40,000 in the next 48 hours. The joint operation was made possible by the framework of the Zabadani/Fouah and Kefrayah ceasefire agreement, which was reached in Istanbul in September, with the facilitation of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria.

The humanitarian and medical supplies to Zabadani and surrounding towns were delivered from Damascus, while deliveries to Foah and Kefrayah were made from UN stocks in Southern Turkey in line with Security Council resolutions 2165 and 2191, which authorized UN agencies and their partners to deliver cross-border humanitarian assistance to people inside Syria.

OCHA said that the UN and its partners now “look forward to the implementation of the remaining points covered under the agreement including the urgent evacuation of the critically wounded,” noting that the UN called on the relevant parties “to facilitate these urgent life-saving and humanitarian actions.”

Photo: WFP/Hani Al Homsh