The Syrian government gave approval for the U.N. to deliver aid next week to thousands of civilians stranded near a U.S. garrison on the Jordanian-Syrian border, aid workers and camp officials said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.
A siege earlier this month by the Syrian army and a block on aid by Jordan has depleted food at the camp in the southeastern Syrian area of Rukban. This led to at least a dozen deaths in the past week among its over 50,000 inhabitants, mainly women and children, residents and U.N. sources told.
The United Nations contacted local officials in the camp to say they had received authorization from Damascus to send an aid convoy on Oct. 25.
The Syrian army has tightened its siege of the camp, which is also near the Iraqi border, preventing smugglers and traders from delivering food.
Jordan, which agreed early this year to allow a one-off aid shipment, has said since it should not be held responsible as the camp was not on its territory and all future provisions must come from U.N. stores inside Syria.