DAMASCUS, June 30, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Aid convoys enter a war-ravaged town in eastern Ghouta countryside east of Damascus, capital of Syria, on June 29, 2016. Aid convoys entered on Wednesday into two besieged rebel-held areas east of the capital Damascus for the first time in four years. (Xinhua/Ammar)
DAMASCUS, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Aid convoys entered on Wednesday into two besieged rebel-held areas east of the capital Damascus for the first time in four years.
The aid convoys crossed into the besieged areas of Zamalka and Erbeen, carrying aid for 20,000 people, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
Thirty-seven truckload of food parcels, and medical supplies as well as flours and other aid materials entered the aforementioned areas for the first time in four years.
The United Nations recently said that around 500,000 people are living inside the besieged towns in Syria.
Humanitarian organizations have repeatedly urged for unhindered access of humanitarian aid to all besieged Syrian cities.
Zamalka and Erbeen are both located in the sprawling Eastern Ghouta suburb, much of which fell to the armed rebellion since the first months of the country's five-year-old conflict.