(5 Mar 2018) Desperate for food and basic medicines, many of the besieged and bombarded Syrian civilians in Damascus' eastern suburbs of Ghouta waited on Monday as a 46-truck convoy organised by the United Nations and key aid agencies began entering the rebel-held enclave.
The convoy, along with vehicles carrying personnel from the United Nations (UN) and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) travelled via the Al-Wafideen crossing from Damascus into eastern Ghouta.
The UN's humanitarian office said the convoy with health and nutrition supplies, along with food for 27,500 people in need, entered the town of Douma in the besieged eastern Ghouta.
It said however that 70 percent of the planned health supplies intended for Douma were not allowed to be loaded and not permitted to be replaced with other life-saving items.
The delivery is the first aid shipment to enter the area since a Russia-ordered so-called humanitarian pause went into force a week ago.
It was also the first to the region in nearly three weeks and the first to Douma, the largest and most populated town in eastern Ghouta, since November.
UNHCR Country Representative in Syria Sajjad Malik said another convoy was planned within the next three days to bring more assistance to the region.
UN officials had said that lack of approvals and consensus among the warring parties, as well as the limited duration of a daily, five-hour Russian-ordered humanitarian pause, had made aid delivery impossible.
Eastern Ghouta, home to some 400,000 people, has been under a crippling siege and daily bombardment for months.
More than 600 civilians have been killed in the last two weeks alone.
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