UN to expand aid efforts in Syria as truce holds

The UN is poised to begin delivering aid to people living in besieged areas of Syria, making use of a truce brokered by the US and Russia.

Its first deliveries are planned for Monday, with aid due to reach about 150,000 Syrians in besieged areas over the next five days. The UN hopes to help an estimated 1.7 million people by the end of March.

Saturday's long-awaited truce appears to be holding despite complaints of breaches from both sides.

Before the truce, Western powers accused Russia of attacking moderate rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; Moscow says it only targets UN-designated terrorist groups.

The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator in Syria, Yacoub el-Hillo, called the truce "the best opportunity that the Syrian people have had over the last five years for lasting peace and stability".

The organisation plans to use the lull to deliver food, water and medicine to towns like Madaya, where residents have reportedly been starving to death.

It says it needs the approval of Syria's warring parties before it can further expand its deliveries.

Efforts to deliver aid to Islamic State-besieged Deir al-Zour by air last week failed when several pallets were damaged, disappeared or landed in no-man's land.

"Primarily we will try to deliver food by land because that is the most efficient way, it's the way that we can deliver the largest amounts of food but there are some areas of the country where we can't get across the front line," Greg Barrow, a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme said.

Almost 500,000 people are living under siege in Syria, the UN estimates.

The cessation of hostilities was agreed as part of a plan by the US and Russia, who have backed opposing sides in Syria's civil war.

It does not apply to the fight against Islamic State (IS) or the Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda.