Daraya, the besieged suburb in Damascus, has received its first delivery of food aid since November 2012, according to Red Crescent. Trucks carrying food, medicines and flour reached the town on Thursday (9 June).

Last weekend, the UN submitted a backup plan to the Syrian regime to airlift food to blockaded areas if land access was not granted.

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Tamam Mehrez, operations director of the Syrian Red Crescent, was quoted by AFP as saying, "Nine lorries are currently being unloaded in Daraya. They are carrying food aid, including dry goods and flour, non-food aid as well as medical aid."

Mehrez added that the aid delivery would be sufficient for a month but has not specified the number of people who would benefit from it.

On Thursday, UN special envoy Staffan di Mistura said the Syrian government had given permission for humanitarian aid to reach 19 areas under siege, the BBC reported.

Approximately 60,000 people live in the blocked areas according to UN estimates. On 1 June, the government had given permission for only essential supplies like baby milk and vaccines to reach Daraya and Mouadamiya.

Shadi Matar, a rebel in Daraya, told AFP, "There aren't many residents waiting for the convoy because they don't believe in promises anymore. And because of the bombings on the town, people are afraid to go out and gather in groups."

Di Mistura said that the pressure on the government over the backup plan to airdrop food led the government to allow the convoys into the areas under siege.

An adviser to President Bashar al-Assad, Bouthaina Shaaban, recently said, "Daraya is the food basket of Damascus; there is nobody starving there."

The civil war, which is in its fifth year, has claimed more than 500,000 lives. Millions are displaced within the country while millions of others fled to European shores, and large swathes of land across the country are in ruins.

Syria