France and Britain and have asked for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to press for the lifting of sieges on Syrian cities and towns where some 400,000 people are unable to get humanitarian aid, the Associated Press reports.

France's UN mission confirmed that a request for a public meeting was made Thursday, January 14 to Uruguay, which currently holds the rotating council presidency. It said no date has yet been scheduled.

The United States was initially reported as sponsor of the meeting but its mission said it did not call for it.

The request follows this week's delivery of aid to three besieged Syrian towns including Madaya, where the UN reported severe malnutrition and people looking like "skeletons."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and many other officials have called for all sieges in Syria to be lifted.