Syria has granted international relief workers access to four key sites after agreeing to a $180-million plan to help one million needy people, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said planning teams were deployed on Sunday to Homs, Idlib, Daraa and Deir Ezzor.
Aid workers will work alongside the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver supplies including food and medicine, said John Ging, director of OCHA's co-ordination and response unit. Damascus has also agreed to allow more local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to deliver aid, said Ging following a meeting in Geneva to discuss scaling up the humanitarian response.