International Commission for the Red Cross to deliver aid to opposition-held areas in Syria

The International Commission for the Red Cross (ICRC) says that together with the UN it is delivering its largest ever humanitarian aid convoy, destined for an opposition-held town under siege in central Syria.

ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek says Thursday's aid convoy is the first to reach the town of Rastan in over a year. Krzysiek says the population of Rastan, which is in Homs province, has doubled because of the influx of people fleeing nearby fighting, ABC News reported on Thursday.

He says the convoy is made up of 65 trucks containing food, medicine and medical equipment, electricity generators and water treatment materials.

The two-month-old cease-fire, now in jeopardy, was intended in part to improve access to besieged areas of Syria. The UN's humanitarian office said earlier this month that 21 percent of the nearly half million people in besieged areas of Syria were reached in March, down from 25 percent in February.

Source ; MENA