Not enough aid reaching desperate civilians in Syria

The Office of the Special Envoy for Syria warned Tuesday that out of the 914,000 people humanitarian partners had hoped to reach last month in Syria, only 40,000 received life-saving aid, making January 2017 the worst month since March last year.

The special envoy's spokesperson, Yara Sharif, told reporters here that "there is an urgent need to move on with the other convoys as there are areas that didn't receive any humanitarian aid for more than 100 days."

"Madaya, Zabadani, Foha and Kefraya are out of food and despite being able to evacuate 13 medical cases since 20 January, there are still critical cases in Madaya and Zabadani that require immediate medical attention," she added.

According to Sharif, an inter-agency convoy was able to deliver food, nutrition and other emergency items for 84,000 people in the hard-to-reach area of Talbiseh in rural Homs on Feb. 5.

This means that only two cross-line aid convoys have been able to proceed with their deliveries since the start of the year.

"The Special Envoy calls for unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to all 4.72 million people in hard-to-reach locations across the country, including the more than 600,000 in besieged locations," Sharif continued.

She also confirmed that invitations to warring delegations expected to participate in the latest round of Syria peace talks on Feb. 20 in Geneva will be sent as planned tomorrow.

source: Xinhua