MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The United Nations has reached more than half a million people across Syria so far this year, adviser to the UN special envoy for Syria on humanitarian issues Jan Egeland said Thursday.
"We have up until now, mid-April, reached 564,000 people across front-lines to besieged and hard-to-reach areas," Egeland said at a media stakeout.
The UN reached fewer people in besieged areas but more people in hard-to-reach areas as compared to last year, he added, noting that two new areas have been reached this year.
The United Nations hopes to reach with supplies the nearly 400,000 besieged civilians in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, Egeland said.
"Eastern Ghouta was again discussed in detail. It is the greatest concentration of besieged people where we do not have access to. I hope we have a breakthrough now," Egeland said.
He said at a media stakeout that "we have declarations from all sides that they want us to send convoys to Douma and later to other places in Eastern Ghouta."
The civil war in Syria has been lasting for around six years with government troops fighting against numerous opposition factions and terror organizations such as al-Nusra Front and Daesh, outlawed in Russia.
The nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime was introduced on December 30, 2016. Terrorist organizations are not part of the ceasefire.
