Aid convoy turns back after being refused entry to besieged Syrian town

A joint aid convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the United Nations was refused entry to Daraya of Syria on Thursday, the ICRC reported on Thursday.

ICRC said that it had obtained prior clearance from all sides that it could proceed, but still they were refused the entry.

"Daraya has been the site of relentless fighting for more than three and a half years, and we know the situation there is desperate", Marianne Gasser, Head of ICRC's Delegation and part of Thursday's convoy, was cited by a ICRC statement as saying.

The convoy was due to provide essential medical supplies to the town's field hospital, distribute baby milk and lead a vaccination campaign for children under 12, as well as distribute hygiene and school materials.

This would have been the first ever aid delivery to the town, which has been under siege since November 2012.

"Communities in Daraya are in need of everything, and it's tragic that even the basics we were bringing today are being delayed unnecessarily," said Mrs Gasser.

"We urge the responsible authorities to grant us this access immediately," she said.

While aid provision to Syrians living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas has yet to make significant headway, mounting pressure on warring factions could still budge the deadlocked situation, Senior Advisor to the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Jan Egeland, said Thursday.

"The next days will be crucial. We take heart in the Russian-U.S. statement which says that we will be granted access to all of the besieged areas and all of the medical supplies that are unloaded will be granted," he said following the humanitarian task force meeting at Geneva's UN headquarters.

Source: XINHUA