16 Syrian besieged areas receive aid in 2016: UN

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)on Friday said the besieged Syrian town of Al-Waer received food, health, education and other emergency supplies, the first aid to reach the location's desperate population in over three months.

Catering to the needs of 37,500 people, this means that 16 out of 18 locations surrounded by warring factions on Thursday received critical assistance since relief operations kicked off in February, Xinhua news agency reported.

Pending government approval, OCHA said a second convoy is scheduled to provide additional supplies to Al-Waer's estimated population of 75,000 people in the coming days.

The remaining two besieged towns of Arbin and Zamalka, in rural Damascus, are also set to receive aid shortly though no indication as to when or whether operations will take place was given by OCHA.

Adequate humanitarian access is considered a vital component for the resumption of Syria peace talks seeking to broker a political end to the five-year conflict.

Negotiations between warring factions have been on hold since April this year as a result of the concerning security and humanitarian situation in the country at war since 2011.

--IANS

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