UN says Syria blocking food aid; seeks airlift approval
GENEVA/UNITED NATIONS- The United Nations is still waiting for Syrian government agreement for an aid convoy to enter the besieged town of Daraya and has requested approval to airlift food into four locations if land routes are unavailable, UN officials said on Tuesday.
Rebel-held Daraya got its first UN aid convoy since 2012 on June 1, but the shipment did not include food. The United Nations has said malnourished children in the Damascus suburb will die without outside help, a claim President Bashar al-Assad's government has denied.
"The blockage of aid is a political issue," UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular UN briefing in Geneva. "Daraya is 7.5 miles from Damascus, so it can be done but we need the political go-ahead from the government."
