Syria, UN ink deal to allow aid workers into hard-hit provinces

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syria's government has agreed to a written deal with the United Nations and other international organizations that would allow aid workers and supplies to enter four hard-hit provinces, U.N. officials announced Tuesday, June 5, according to AP.

The agreement with Damascus and representatives of the government in Geneva should allow convoys with supplies and aid workers from nine U.N. agencies and seven other non-governmental organizations to enter Daraa, Deir el-Zour, Homs and Idlib within days, said John Ging of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

He said at least 1 million Syrians are in urgent need of some form of humanitarian aid, including people injured during fighting, and families who have lost jobs or homes.

More than 78,000 Syrian refugees were also being helped in Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, the U.N. refugee agency said.

Syria barred a string of U.S. and European diplomats Tuesday, saying they were "no longer welcome" as the country plunged into its most profound international isolation in decades.

Last week, Western nations expelled Syrian diplomats in a coordinated move over the Houla massacre, in which more than 100 people were slaughtered over one weekend in a cluster of small villages.