UN prepares aid to Sweida after govt green light

The United Nations is preparing to send a convoy of humanitarian aid to Syria’s southern province of Sweida, three aid officials told Reuters, after days of bloodshed left hundreds dead and displaced an estimated 175,000 people.

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The preparations began after Syria's foreign ministry granted UN aid agencies a green light to access Sweida directly, according to correspondence seen by Reuters, following three deliveries of UN aid to the province carried out by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent.

The new UN convoy will include food and other supplies, according to Marianne Ward, head of the UN's World Food Programme in Syria.

"We're organising a convoy with a variety of different UN agencies’ support, which we expect will be the beginning of blanket access" to vulnerable communities, Ward told Reuters.